


Aldnoah.9670

by Nightfall (RealmOfTan)



Category: Aldnoah.Zero (Anime)
Genre: Adaptation, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood and Gore, Boys Kissing, Boys' Love, Character Development, Explicit Death, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Heavy Angst, Horror, Insanity, Interpersonal Development, Intrapersonal Development, M/M, Psychological Horror, Psychological Trauma, Rape/Non-con Elements, Smut, Survival Horror, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-05-25 09:43:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 43
Words: 409,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6189613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RealmOfTan/pseuds/Nightfall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>“Orange,” Inaho heard a silent whisper from the direction of his hunter, warning him with a cruel tone. “How dare you lose against me?” The hunter was wide awake, preying upon the human young man who dared to enter its newly conquered domain.</i><br/> </p><p>15 years ago the devastating war of Nightfall ended. In the aftermath the human population got time to rebuild their world to the best of their abilities while feeling the terrifying eyes of their hunters observe them from across the seas; their enemies – the cursed – were watching them. Now, the cursed are sending out their princess with the hopes of establishing peace between both sides, and she is welcomed as a sign of hope – but this hope is quickly snuffed out and a second war breaks out.</p><p>A human boy who wishes to preserve his comfortable and predictable everyday life is forced out onto the battlefield, and a blood sacrifice is desperately trying to find the truth about what happened to his beloved princess. Little do they know they are soon to cross paths with one another, and their fates are slowly tangling up with each other's.</p><p>First cour: Finished<br/>Second cour: Finished</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Cursed Princess of Vers

**Author's Note:**

> 9670 is the identification number for blood in the Foundational Model of Anatomy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major warnings! This deals with heavy and unpleasant topics and I am letting the bloodthirsty part of my brain free on this one. Read this with caution if you are easily triggered by angst, gore and brutality.
> 
> This is a fanfic adaptation of the original anime series but with the theme of horror and a lot more face-to-face and hand-to-hand action. This time the characters are forced to face both horror and terror, and there are no safe kataphract cockpits to hide in. There are major changes but the story follows the anime main events in one way or another - sometimes literally and sometimes metaphorically, and I will try to patch up the plot holes of the original story (and probably create new ones...). The ending will be a little different as well, so I hope you enjoy.

”I have forgotten how it feels to stand in the sun. It looks so beautiful and dazzling.” She stood up and twirled around with a bright smile to look at him. The white skirt of her simple dress swayed from her graceful movement and his still beating heart fluttered in his chest, reminding him of how different the two of them were. Her face was cast in a shadow as she turned her back toward the large screen showing a photograph of a bright sun on a spring sky in order to fix her eyes on the military dressed boy. “Can you tell me the story of the sun god again, Slaine?"

Slaine thought for a short moment on how to answer her sudden question. They had been in the room for several hours now with Slaine teaching her about the human ways of life and diving deeper into human culture. It was always an enjoyable time since she was so intrigued by humans that no matter what Slaine told her she smiled brightly with excitement in her eyes. It gave the human boy a chance to reminiscence about his past life from before he had been pulled into the secluded world of Vers and its citizens. No matter how much Slaine wanted to be by the princess’s side he still felt a certain longing for the quiet life in the human realm. But here he was in the small conference room together with the beautiful Asseylum who had forgotten about the human world and its culture due to being away from it for so long.

“Apollo was the god of the sun in ancient Greek mythology. He had a golden chariot pulled by four strong horses, with which he drove across the sky to move the sun from dusk till dawn, my princess,” he answered as the princess leaned closer with an excited look in her eyes, thirsty to hear what more he had to say. For a moment Slaine lost what he was supposed to say as an unplanned thought traveled through his mind of how beautiful she was, and he forced himself to continue once he caught up with himself: “E-every day he did this journey to bring the light of the sun to the world and give the crops warmth to grow. Once he reached to the end of the sky he would put the sun away to let it rekindle, and then start the journey in the morning again.”

The girl smiled that smile which reminded Slaine about the sun they had just adored in the photograph. It was so warm and gentle, unlike the smiles of the other habitants of the military ship they were traveling with across the Sea of Japan – the aircraft carrier V.E.S. Tharsis. They had embarked from Vers Empire – formerly known as Russia – a couple of days earlier.

“It sounds so romantic!” Asseylum finally said and twirled around to look at the photograph of the sun again. “I wish I could see it again with my own eyes when Apollo raises it up and pulls it across the sky. You are so lucky to still be human and watch sunrises and sunsets, Slaine.”

Slaine chuckled awkwardly to her excitement and she twirled around again to look at him at the same time as a door opened to the room. A man with blonde hair and a burgundy coat of a noble count stood in the doorway. His eyes were fixed on the princess.

“So this is where you were,” he declared and stepped in. Slaine felt the warmth he had just felt pour out of him and his breathing became stiff. He quickly straightened his back like he had been taught during the military training he had been forced to endure, and waited with his heart speeding up its beats. Asseylum greeted the man, smiling, and the man – who went under the name of Cruhteo – spoke to her with a warm voice: “The hour is late. Please return to your chambers. We shall be arriving in the morning, my princess.”

“Oh? I lost track of time,” Asseylum said and looked at the large photograph of the sun on the screen again, explaining: “When I look at the rays of the sun like this, time truly flies.”

The princess turned toward Slaine to thank him for his lessons of the day and let him know she would retreat to her chambers. Slaine was quick to respectably wish her sweet dreams and as the princess walked past Cruhteo Slaine felt a horrific fright crawl up his spine as the man did not follow her immediately. Their eyes connected in silence and Slaine’s breath was caught in his throat. He desperately tried to look brave. The noble man gave Slaine a loathing glare and Slaine hurried to bow to show the man the human boy knew his place. Cruhteo turned his back to him in order to leave along with the princess and Slaine held his breath and stood stiffly like he had been taught, until the door closed. At the familiar noise of the door closing and the lights turning off he breathed out a relieved sigh and raised himself from his bowed position. The turned off lights were a reminder from the count of how little the man thought of the human boy. Slaine was treated like a ghost; he had no existence unless Cruhteo felt like giving him that right.

‘ _Thank god…_ ’ Slaine gritted his teeth and stared at the door, feeling relieved he had been a ghost this time. ‘ _Stay brave, Troyard!_ ’ he told himself and clenched his fists out of determination.

†††

The smell of butter drifted in the air as he stirred the eggs, scrambling them in the frying pan. The television was on in the background where a news anchor spoke about the historical news about the princess of Vers arriving to Japan in three days for a goodwill visit to establish peace between the species. Inaho hardly listened to the man reporting about the Versian ships soon arriving to their destination outside of Shinawara harbor, and instead he focused his hearing on the sound of dragging steps coming from the direction of his sister’s bedroom – just as he had expected. A yawn drowned out the reading of news in the television, quickly followed by a morning greeting, and the boy heard his sister slump tiredly down onto the kitchen chair next to the dinner table.

“Good morning, Yuki-nee,” Inaho answered and turned off the stove. “Would you have wished for an omelet or scrambled eggs?”

“How about an omelet?” Yuki asked tiredly and Inaho poured up the scrambled eggs onto the plate on the kitchen counter and served it to her.

“Too bad. You get scrambled eggs today,” he said as a hint to let her know she could have had the right to chose if she had gotten up from bed in time.

Inaho took off the apron and poured up some coffee for her, and Yuki began to enjoy her breakfast while Inaho pulled on the blazer to his school uniform. They exchanged the words which were not unusual between the two; Yuki wondering if Inaho would have breakfast as well, and Inaho warning her about her getting late if she did not hurry up to finish her breakfast. Before he left home he advised her to what busses to take on her way to work, something he was used to doing since she was such a sleepyhead in the mornings. Then Inaho left to walk down the street toward the bus stop.

It was a usual autumn morning, much like every morning the past months where the sun shone brightly in the sky and birds battled with drowning out the loud noises from traffic disrupting their chirping communication. As he got onto the bus he found his classmates all the way back in the bus where he expected them to be.

‘ _Every day is the same_ ,’ he thought satisfied and was greeted by his friends in the usual way of them asking him why his sister was not with him, and Inaho answering with the usual answer of her oversleeping. Inaho sat down next to Calm and Okisuke and listened to his classmates complaining about the military drill they were to perform in school that day – a drill everyone had to go through for safety of the human race. Inko challenged Inaho to race for the highest scores in school tests and Nina complemented Inko for her dedication.

‘ _Just like every single day_ …’

Inaho did not mind it; it was quite joyful and peaceful in its own right and it was a relief as well as relaxing ever since he had begun high school along with his friends earlier that year. The repetitive daily routines were a comfortable way of life since he could be certain of nothing too unexpected to happen in the near future, and thus live his high school life without worrying.

The bus drove through the usual tunnel and once they exited it on the other side Inaho’s attention was drawn to the ghostly scenery of buildings in ruins and machinery working to repair and rebuild the old city of Awara, which had now become Shinawara. Everyone looked at the window to their left as if they all were enchanted by the ruins’ eerie sight. The ruins which still stood among the ongoing repaired buildings were a piece of history, proving not every day would be the same, and that reminder brought tension into everyone’s shoulders.

Inaho got a foreboding feeling now that the enemy species had sent their princess to the human world for political reasons. He did not like it; he wanted every day to be the same; he disliked worrying.

“Fifteen years since Nightfall…” he heard Okisuke sigh with a bored tone. “To think those cursed creatures were capable of that heavy damage, huh?”

His friends chatted away; Calm letting Okisuke know that he and Nina had been through worse in their home country, and all of them spoke about the dreaded war which had ended fifteen years ago. That war had rendered the human civilization to fall into ruins and had left terrible scars in the human society. Inaho did not listen wholeheartedly; he had turned his attention toward the harbor and was busy looking at the blue sea from where he knew the Versian princess and her entourage would come from in three days.

‘ _Not every day will stay the same forever_ ,’ he thought.

†††

“ _The curse spread 42 years ago in the year 1972 when traces of an unknown civilization were found by accident during an excavation for a new science center in Russia. The construction was halted and archeologists were sent to retrieve artifacts and investigate what kind of civilization it had been. An unexplainable illness struck those who had been wandering on the site, with their immune system attacking their blood cells, causing life-threatening anemia and a certain death within three days. Attempts at medical treatment and bone marrow transplantation, which are recommended treatments for a similar illness called hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, were made but proved to be ineffective. All the patients passed away._ ”

Inaho listened to the tiring voice of a narrator reading up the history of the war of Nightfall in his headphones under the helmet, while he aimed at the moving targets of the red enemy team running on the exercise field. He performed flawlessly during the drill despite the historical lesson played in his ears which was meant to distract him.

“ _The bodies to be autopsied disappeared mysteriously from the morgues and labs, while those who had already been buried had had their graves plundered. The families to the archeologists began to disappear as well within weeks of their kin’s death_.”

The gun in his hand was heavy but the weight was nothing but familiar. The bullets he shot were harmless paint bullets of blue color; not the kind of bullets he would shoot if another war broke out.

‘ _Children taught to kill_ …’ he thought and pulled the trigger and hit one of the enemy team members who was incapacitated by getting a blue dot onto her mesh armor. He hurried to run toward the goal which was a red flag standing on the top of a ramp – the flag which the enemy team had to protect to all cost. ‘ _I want nothing to do with it. This is not the children’s war_.’ Despite his distaste to go through a drill like this, he still engaged in it and performed like he had been born to fight simply because he had to; without military training he would not be allowed to finish high school.

He dashed up the ramp, dodged a paint bullet shot by someone in enemy team and heard the enemy yell to the others Inaho was running up the ramp. Inaho had his eyes on the flag and listened intently for the voices around him through the narrator’s voice, and paid attention on the enemies’ whereabouts in the corner of his eyes. Running steps from heavy boots were heard behind him and he decided to turn around and shoot. The enemy boy was too close for Inaho to be able to take aim and instead the brunet quickly lowered himself to dodge a red paint bullet aimed at him by the boy running toward him.

Within the blink of an eye – with reflexes like that of a cat – Inaho jumped up to his feet and ran toward the enemy boy, crashing into him hard enough the boy fell backwards and rolled down the ramp. Inaho had been prepared by carefully calculating his momentum and managed to break his own fall. He turned around and once again set after the flag.

“ _It was later discovered the true reason behind the illness and disappearing bodies and families. Cursed creatures of the night began to attack humans, feeding on them like merciless beasts of prey_.”

He was almost there. The red flag waited for him and Inaho’s pulse was beating in his ears as his lungs screamed for rest.

“ _Blood_ ,” the man in the headphones said dramatically and Inaho suddenly began to listen to the raging heart in his chest pumping his blood around in his hardworking body with great power. “ _These cursed creatures wanted the blood of the innocent and humans began to fight back. A war, Nightfall, finally broke out when the cursed creatures multiplied at a fast rate and threatened to take over the human civilization with their monstrous greed for blood._ ”

People yelled orders around him and those with blue armor began to close in on the ramp where Inaho was running, protecting him from the red team.

“ _The humans began to fall back due to the extraordinary abilities of the cursed creatures. It seemed like the end was near, but in year 1999 a miracle struck._ ”

Inaho saw a red team member close in on him from his left on the ground. He was close to the flag but saw the enemy raise their gun and aim at him. He had to either dodge or pull a daredevil move. The choice was obvious: The sooner he got the flag the sooner the drill was over. The boy made a leap toward the flag, reached out his hand toward it and watched it, determined not to miss it.

“ _The leader of the cursed creatures was killed and the war came to a halt_.”

The boy felt the stick of the flag in his hand and grasped it quickly before landing onto the wooden surface with a loud thud. The hit of the landing made a piercing pain shoot out from Inaho’s shoulder for a couple of seconds, but he raised the flag into the air while the narrator in the headphones said:

“ _The humans had won_.”

A loud sound of the signal horn echoed in the area and all the students came to a stop. Inaho heard Yuki’s voice in the speakers surrounding the exercise field say:

“Congratulations! Blue team gets the honor of winning this drill!”

‘ _So she did manage to get here in time_ ,’ Inaho thought and lowered his hand holding the red flag while he still lay on the top of the wooden ramp. He stared at it while the cheers of the blue team and downhearted sighs and complaints of the red team surrounded him. A bitter emotion spread in him as he gasped for air with deep breaths and listened to his pulse threaten to break his ear drums. ‘ _There’s no honor in children fighting a war_.’

“You did it, Inaho!” he heard Inko yell joyfully from somewhere below the platform Inaho lay on.

“Way to go!” Calm cheered.

‘ _If this was a war_ ,’ Inaho thought and raised himself to his feet and walked down the ramp. ‘ _This flag would mean I have killed dozens._ ’

He let go of the red flag as he was about to reach ground level. The flag dropped onto the ramp with a gentle knock and disappeared behind him as he set his course toward the changing room to prepare for the debriefing of their drill.

†††

“Slaine!” he heard the princess’s sweet voice say happily three days later and his heart fluttered like it always did the moment he heard her voice or saw her smile.

He watched her step out of her cabin dressed in a grandeur white dress much fitted for someone of her position. A little brown-haired girl dressed in a black dress with white collar followed close behind her. She was the princess’s handmaiden. Eddelrittuo immediately looked at Slaine with distaste in her glare but Slaine greeted the princess with a respectful bow and ignored the glare from the handmaiden which he was all too used to.

“You may rise, Slaine.”

“Thank you,” Slaine answered and raised himself to look at the heavenly blue eyes watching him with kindness. Asseylum was astoundingly lovely in her royal dress and Slaine felt his cheeks blush – a trait only he had among the residents on the ship.

“It is time for me to go. We have arrived to Shinawara in Japan and I will do my duty as a goodwill ambassador,” she said and walked over to Slaine to take a hold of his hands with her cold and slender fingers.

They had arrived outside the port of Shinawara in Japan and were anchored out at sea. The Japanese navy greeted them with suspicion and lay at anchor about two nautical miles away from V.E.S. Tharsis. The ship filled with cursed creatures was heavily guarded by both its own soldiers and the human navy, protecting each of their side with great care. It was afternoon and the princess looked exhausted, probably deprived of sleep since she was supposed to be at sleep at this hour. Despite Slaine asking her if it were not better to travel by night the princess had insisted on making her goodwill visit when the humans were awake and were there to see her.

“ _I have to show them how sincere I am and not hide from their eyes in darkness_ ,” she had explained, and with that Slaine had given up on convincing her to travel by night.

“Thank you for teaching me about your kind,” she then said and squeezed Slaine’s hands lovingly. “Sadly I have lived for too long in the world of night to remember how it felt like to be the same as you. I am sure your teachings will be of help during my visit.”

Slaine furrowed his brows from worry. She would within minutes go out on a goodwill visit on human territory to promote the peace treaty between humans and her own kind to end the senseless bloodshed which had been going on for years even after Nightfall had ended. This visit was supposed to lead to both nations opening up communications and negotiate, and later hopefully lead to the emperor of Vers signing a peace declaration along with the United Nations Secretary-General. Slaine was worried for her safety. The girl’s naiveté was dangerous and even if she was good at diplomacy she had no experience on the field; she only knew what she had been taught from her teacher. She had lived a protected life for too long.

“Will it not be dangerous for you, my princess?” Slaine asked worriedly and Asseylum calmed him down by expressing her thoughts on not letting fear be misleading, and continued:

“If we are to walk the earth together, humans and those cursed, someone has to take the first step.”

‘ _Such noble and honorable words_ ,’ Slaine thought for a moment before he got an impulse to do something for her before she left. The boy opened his navy blue uniform to take off his treasured talisman which was a memento from his deceased father. The small chain jingled quietly as he unclasped the hook of the necklace, and he lowered it from his neck without exposing any of his skin to her. ‘ _I can’t let you worry about me…_ ’ he thought and felt a plastic adhesive plaster on his neck brush against his fingers. ‘ _Please, don’t come off…_ ’

“This is for you,” Slaine said softly with a small smile as he managed to get the talisman off without exposing his neck to the girl, and he put the talisman in Asseylum’s hand. “We humans are superstitious,” he said. “We believe these charms protects us from evil and misfortune.”

“This is…” the princess said astonished and looked at the small round talisman with a blue cross on it, before turning her heavenly blue eyes up toward Slaine. “But this is your late father’s, Slaine. Why are you giving it to me?”

Slaine forced a warm smile to his lips and took her hands into his and gently squeezed them.

‘ _It has never protected me since there is nothing to protect; I’m useless_ ,’ the boy secretly thought.

“Please accept it,” he said quietly and Asseylum’s puzzled expression turned into a gentle smile. “I am sure my father would approve as well,” Slaine assured her. “See it as my token of gratitude for you saving the life of me and my father five years ago.”

“Thank you, Slaine,” his beloved Asseylum answered with her smile candidly happy. “I shall take your and your father’s wish with me on my visit and honor it.”

Slaine nodded with a joyful smile but then frowned as he remembered what he had been supposed to give her.

“Also, take this,” the young man continued and reached his hand into his uniform to take out a thin case which looked like a case for cigars. It was metallic with a black leather tie around it with a clasp holding it together. “If you ever get urgently hungry, please use these.”

Asseylum furrowed her brows as she immediately understood what the case contained, but she opened it anyway. Inside laid four small glass vials with blood, chilled by a chemical reaction in the small containers between each vial.

“Is this yours?” she asked and Slaine nodded.

“I know you detest attacking humans, my princess,” he said quietly. “I cannot support you on your travel in any other way than offer you my blood to save you from hunger.”

Asseylum reached up a hand to Slaine’s cheek to caress the warm and soft skin of the innocent boy. Her fingers were pale and cold; the entire she was ice cold after her heart had given up beating in her chest long, long time ago. It was so strangely contradictory in view of how warm her words and eyes were, and for a moment Slaine could feel that warmth flow into him from her touch, creating an illusion of a warm caress.

“Thank you,” she whispered but continued with a voice filled with pity. “Although, you should not need to offer me your blood to show me support, Slaine.”

“Forgive me, Princess Asseylum,” the young servant whispered and let his mind be deluded by her brief and tender touch. “But you know my blood will satisfy your hunger for a longer period of time than the blood from the blood banks due to the quality of my blood.”

“You maintain it flawlessly for no good reason since you are not a blood sacrifice,” the princess answered. Slaine opened his eyes to look at her the moment she lowered her hand to close the case containing the vials. “Thank you. I treasure your thought and sacrifice.”

An apologetic smile spread on Slaine lips and he buttoned his uniform. He knew Asseylum strongly disliked him sacrificing his blood like that and did not understand why he maintained his high blood quality. She believed he did it for health reasons but it was further from the truth than Slaine wanted to admit. No one told her what Slaine actually was on board the V.E.S. Tharsis.

“It is only blood, my princess,” he said but Asseylum quickly shook her head.

“No. It is _your_ blood, Slaine.”

‘ _And now you say such bittersweet things again_ ,’ Slaine thought and felt his heart throb. How he loved and grieved the princess’s kind and loving words… It was the greatest joy and yet the most brutal torture he could go through since he knew he would never be allowed to be with her. He was a mere human having more worth as cattle than being one of her kind. ‘ _You are too kind to curse me…_ ’

“It is time, my lady,” a male voice said the moment the door opened behind Asseylum and Eddelrittuo. Slaine felt how he reflexively straightened his back again the moment Cruhteo came into his attention. “A pilot boat is waiting for you.”

“I understand,” Asseylum said with her expression growing sincere. She looked at Slaine for the last time: “Goodbye.”

“Goodbye, my princess,” Slaine answered and bowed once the girls began walking down the ship’s corridor.

He could not hear Cruhteo follow them and Slaine’s pulse began to beat hard once again. The doors further down the corridor closed and the princess’s salvific presence disappeared. Slaine heard Cruhteo take a step closer and the boy released his face from expression and raised himself up. The man stepped closer with a commanding stare and Slaine knew what the man was about to do. For a moment fear struck him as he saw the cruelty in Cruhteo’s eyes and within the blink of an eye he was pushed against the wall with such force his breath was knocked out of him. A superhumanly strong hand tore up the golden buttons on his uniform and sent them flying across the floor. Teeth sunk into his neck right through the plastic adhesive plaster, which he had covered the old wounds with to prevent the scent of his blood reaching Asseylum.

“Agh!”

The piercing pain from the needlelike teeth was familiar to Slaine and yet it hurt each time Cruhteo demanded his blood. He felt them cut deeper as the man added pressure to his bite – deliberately making it painful – and Slaine felt the man’s cold lips slowly grow warmer as the man gulped down his blood. A slight vibration from the violent flow of blood tingled where the teeth buried into him, and the sound of it echoed distantly in his ears.

A pleasant sensation took hold of him as the vampire’s poison sipped into him from the bite. He was hasty to willingly resign himself to his fate, just like every other blood sacrifice the vampires hunted down. Their bite contained a poison to make the humans obedient during the time it took for the vampires to feed on them to prevent their teeth from breaking incase the prey struggled violently. Slaine was addicted to it, much like the addicted humans who lived willingly under the vampires' rule as their food source. The poison was sweet, relaxing and deluded his mind enough for him to want to agree to the most unbelievable things. It completely ruled him for the few minutes the rush lasted.

‘ _Stay safe, Asseylum…_ ’ Slaine thought and quickly began to feel faint from blood loss. He had already sacrificed blood for the princess that day; he would turn anemic after Cruhteo had finished feeding on him.

When Cruhteo let him go the boy collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath. The man dried his lips from the overflown blood and his usually pale face had gotten the color of a living creature, ready to fool any unknowing human to believe Cruhteo was human as well.

“Know your place, human,” the man said threateningly as Slaine tried to push his exhausted body up from the floor. “Be careful of your foolish human lessons deluding the princess. Remember who you answer to. I will not be as merciful next time, blood sacrifice.”

Slaine finally got up and kept his head lowered while a bead of blood trickled down his neck before it was caught by the collar of his white shirt underneath the ripped uniform.

“Yes, sir…” Slaine said quietly with his voice trembling from exhaustion.

When Cruhteo left Slaine stayed in his slumped kneeling position on the floor. He had no energy to raise his head and be brave. He had no motivation to stand up and walk resolutely. The source of his protection was gone – gone for an important political mission while Slaine was left behind to live under the harsh conditions of being the only human on board the ship which was populated by thousands of vampires. Had it not been for Cruhteo claiming the boy as his blood sacrifice Slaine would have been forced to feed enough cursed creatures to empty himself of every drop of blood. As long as he stayed on Cruhteo’s good side the count would keep him safe from the others on board.

‘ _A blood sacrifice_ …’ he thought and sighed heavily. He raised his hand to the fresh puncture wounds on his neck and pressed the palm against them to stop the bleeding. ‘ _Why won’t you turn me as well, my princess?_ ’

Slaine was exhausted. He worked hard to keep his blood as nutritious for vampires as possible by working on his cardio every evening and eat only the healthiest of meals which contained the perfect levels of iron and vitamins for his body. He drank a perfect amount of water every day: To have too much water in his body would water down the blood, and if he had too little of it his blood became too potent. Despite he did not suffer from diabetes he checked his blood sugar levels before and after each meal to ensure his blood was as healthy as possible, and he kept an eye on his other blood levels as well. All of it he did for the sake of being a valued blood sacrifice and be allowed to live a couple of days longer. Count Cruhteo had quickly claimed him the moment Slaine had set his foot inside the ship which he had been asked to embark after his father’s death. Cruhteo had taught him how to take care of his blood and given him military training to drill him into a disposable jet pilot. Slaine figured as long as his blood was desirable he would be kept alive by the cursed creatures, but that also meant he would not be turned into one of them.

‘ _Princess Asseylum…_ ’ he thought where he sat on the cold metallic floor in the empty corridor.

Tears sprung to his eyes when the rush from Cruhteo’s poison released him. How he wished to become one of her kind so he could be saved from his difficult life and be considered a member of the vampire society. He did not give a damn about staying a human. He simply wished he could let the princess know how he was treated the moment she turned her back and did not see what was truly going on, but he could not hurt her like that. She would be devastated of hearing how Slaine was treated since she truly believed the pretty words Slaine fed her to keep her calm. If she knew the truth things on board would threaten to escalate out of control for everyone involved with the boy. Then again, as long as he was human he would live through a life of fear of dying. That fear was eating away at his sanity every day; a blood sacrifice had no value in the eyes of cursed creatures.

‘ _But how can I tell her?_ ’ he thought and a tear dropped onto the floor. ‘ _I can never tell her… It would devastate her and make her worry._ ’

Asseylum would never curse him and so Slaine never asked her to do that out loud. He could only beg for her merciful gift silently behind her back. She believed it was ideal to be human and treasured Slaine the way he was, and Slaine could not ask her to destroy him like that – even if he saw it as salvation. No one would demand his blood if he was one of them and he would not have to work as hard as he did to maintain good health for the fear of losing the interest of his guardian – the vampire count Cruhteo; one of the third generation vampires who all obeyed the words of Rayregalia Vers Rayvers – the last of the first generation vampires since the awakening of the curse.

Slaine sighed heavily and finally dried his tears before he got up from the floor on unsteady legs. He leaned against the wall for support and gathered his sense of balance before he set course toward his cabin – quickly in order to replace the punctured adhesive plaster with a new one and seal away the scent of his blood before he would get attacked by a random crewmember.

†††

“Oh, we made it!” Okisuke said relieved and leaned against the handrail on the gangway to look at the moving military vehicles on the main street. They had gone to the main road immediately once school was over and Inaho had tagged along Okisuke together with Calm to give the boy some company while he tried to get a glance of the princess.

The crowd was large since everyone wanted to have a look of the Versian princess; the granddaughter to the current leader of the cursed creatures. News reporters were flocking the barriers made by police and soldiers to keep the main street free from trespassers. Cameras flashed and the words from the journalists melted into a mumbling mess.

Calm complained about the crowd and told his friends they should have watched it on the television instead of forcing themselves into the crowded streets.

“Well, the street needs all the voices they can get. We need to make them feel welcome,” Okisuke said with a cheerful voice.

‘ _We don’t need them to feel welcome_ ,’ Inaho thought and stared at the armored limousine which was probably carrying the enemy princess. He was being selfishly protective about his comfortable and predictive life to the point he thought the princess’s visit to be a bother. ‘ _With them here nothing will stay the same, and I like it how it is now_.’

“Man. When did your heart begin to bleed for the vampires?” Calm asked with a bothered sigh.

‘ _Bleeding… What a coincidental thing to say_ ,’ Inaho thought. The brunet picked up his phone from his blazer pocket and began to fiddle with it. He had no interest in the goodwill visit and thought of what groceries to buy once they would take the bus home. To maintain his normal and tranquil life for as long as he could was necessary when the princess of Vers threatened to ruin it entirely with her visit. Inaho thought of his need as a form of psychological reaction to an unsettling situation – a desperate way to preserve as much as he could of what was threatened to disappear.

“But it’s not every day you get to see a princess. And I’ve heard online that she’s supposed to be really cute,” Okisuke said unpretentiously.

“What? Really?” Calm answered unimpressed to Okisuke’s simple answer.

“Oh… I can’t see her,” Inaho heard Okisuke complain. Calm answered with explaining why she was not visible, saying that the glass was both armored and thus bulletproof as well as protected the princess from the sunlight. Okisuke continued with complaining about her for not waving to the crowd. It was clear the parade did not live up to his expectations.

‘ _What did you expect from a cursed creature traveling in daylight?_ ’ Inaho thought and scrolled further down on the website he was looking at on his phone. The two boys began to argue but Inaho did not listen. Instead he found something on his phone which caught his eye:

“Oh. Eggs are on sale,” he said and the boys interrupted their bickering to look at him. ‘ _Only 98 yen_ ,’ he thought as he read the interesting deal on the ad.

“And you’re totally lost in your own world, Inaho,” Calm remarked with a sigh.

“There you are!” a female voice said with a joyful surprise among all the people flocking on the gangway. “I knew you would be here!”

The three boys looked up at Inko as she walked toward them, meandered through the crowded gangway still dressed in her school uniform and with a blue scarf around her neck.

“Oh! You came too?” Okisuke asked surprised and Inko reached them without bumping into any of the other spectators.

“I’m here with the student council,” Inko answered with her confident smile. “We were asked to help with redirecting the traffic.”

She tried to convince them to help her out. Apparently the crowd was so large it was stressful and difficult to handle the traffic since the crowds interfered with the roads through which the traffic was being redirected now that the main road was closed for the parade. Inaho listened to his friends and waited for them to come to a decision. Whatever they decided to do was fine with him; he would go along with whatever they wanted to do.

As Calm complained about Inko claiming them to have too much free time and instead help her out, Inaho heard something in the distance which he had never heard before. He decided not to pay mind to it but once a moving object in the sky was visible in the corner of his eye he turned his attention toward it to take a closer look. In the forefront of a trail of smoke a white missile soared through the sky toward the direction of the military vehicles on the main road.

‘ _Not every day will stay the same_ ,’ he thought and stared at it, seemingly not reacting to the approaching disaster and remembered back to his foreboding feeling that morning on the bus. ‘ _I knew it. How troublesome._ ’

“What about you, Inaho? You’ll help out, right?” he heard Inko ask hopefully as the boys had managed to talk themselves out of work, and Inaho turned to look at his friends.

‘ _I should tell them_ ,’ he thought as he watched the three of them wait for his answer.

“I think we should get out of here immediately,” Inaho said and all three stared at him with confusion washing over him.

Inko tilted her head with an uncertain smile on her lips, clearly not understanding what Inaho had just said.

“Huh?” she asked and Inaho decided to be clear about what he meant, and bluntly answered:

“I just saw a missile.”

The trio looked at each other without reacting to the urgency, and neither did Inaho. The brunet wondered if they had understood him at all or if they did not believe him since neither of them began to run away. Then again, how would one react to something like that? In the corner of his eye he saw the missile hit the main road and a wall of fire rose up from the explosion site, illuminating the already bright day with orange and yellow hues. The ground shook under their feet and all four turned to look at the main road.

“What!?” Calm yelled shocked as the realization of Inaho’s words hit him.

One of the military trucks had been blown up into the air and flew toward the gangway where Inaho stood with his friends, but it quickly gave way for gravity and crashed onto the pavement beneath the gangway. People began screaming once they realized the area was being under attack, and the crowds began running toward the directions they found were safest in their chaotic and panicked state.

A second missile hissed through the street before colliding with another of the military trucks and Inko threw herself onto the gangway road. Inaho saw a third missile fly beneath them and hit a third military truck. The driver lost control and it intercepted a fourth truck by crashing against it, forcing it onto the walkway where a couple of shocked spectators had been frozen to the spot by fear.

“The limousine is all right!” Calm said and hurried to run to the other side of the gangway as the white vehicle passed beneath them with a faster speed.

“No,” Inaho said silently and watched two missiles fly toward the gangway, following the limousine.

They passed above their heads and before long both of them hit the road right in front of the limousine, throwing it off course. The vehicle swayed from side to side as the driver struggled to get control but due to a wrong turn with great speed the limousine was thrown into a vaulting motion, rolling violently until it stopped upside down with a loud crash. Smoke surrounded the vehicle and obscured Inaho’s sight. He could barely see the figure of someone wearing a white dress crawl out of the limousine and a scream was heard in the area from the sun attacking the cursed creature’s skin. The princess was burning up from the sun.

Another loud explosion shook the area as something exploded in a multistory car park close by and a last missile came flying, directed at the burning princess. Her pained cry was silenced once she saw the missile come toward her and she resigned herself to her fate. The next second the last explosion shook the ground and took the life of the supposedly beautiful enemy princess.

‘ _Nothing will stay the same forever_ ,’ Inaho thought as he and his friends watched the burning rubble of the limousine in silence. ‘ _How troublesome…_ ’

†††

The grey smoke floated up from the city in the distance. Slaine stared at it through the porthole in his small cabin and wondered what was going on. Was Asseylum all right? What caused that ominous smoke to rise? That could not be normal. Something had happened and he knew it.

‘ _Princess Asseylum!_ ’

He had been measuring his blood pressure when he had noticed the distant smoke in the corner of his eye. His heart began to slowly beat harder from worry and his blood pressure rose; the digital numbers on the monitor slowly counted up. It was as if his mind alternated between the thought of the princess being hurt from an attack and her being all right. The smoke could possibly come from an accident not related to her visit.

His thoughts confused him.

The speaker which was fixed to the wall released a static noise, indicating the speaker system had been activated across the entire ship to relay a transmission from the Versian ships lying in wait on international water, just outside of Japan’s national sea border. The voice of someone Slaine had not seen or heard for a long time spoke through the speaker with a striking power:

“ _Princess Asseylum wished whole-heartedly for peace, only to be viciously struck down by the villainous humans!_ ” Count Saazbaum said. His voice was burning with rage and the man hungered to retaliate.

‘ _Princess…!_ ’ Slaine thought shocked and stared at the speaker with wide eyes, not knowing what to do. The princess had been attacked and he felt the urge to do something – but he was nothing but a blood sacrifice; he had no value as a soldier despite his training. ‘ _I have do to something but I don’t know what!_ ’

“ _We of the Vers Empire must answer this atrocity by bringing down the hammer of justice on the inferior species of Earth!_ ” Saazbaum continued.

‘ _Why would the humans attack her!?_ ’ Slaine thought and lost his breath while he listened to the other Versian counts inspire their soldiers to revenge the princess’s death. The blond boy stared absentmindedly at the numbers showing a higher and higher value on the blood pressure monitor as his shock began to affect him further now that the knowledge of what had cause the smoke had sunk in.

“ _Let justice be done!_ ” Saazbaum’s powerful voice yelled in the speaker.

‘ _Another war!_ ’ Slaine thought and took a deep breath. ‘ _Stay calm. Whatever you do, stay calm._ ’

“ _Start the turbines and all ships raise anchor! Keep pace with the other lords and take us closer to the city,_ ” Cruhteo’s order echoed throughout the ship. “ _Our only recourse now is to demonstrate our grief through force of arms! All ships of the Cruhteo fleet, ready your cannons. All aircrafts, prepare for takeoff. Your target; Shinawara, Japan!_ ”

Slaine ripped the blood pressure monitor off his arm and stared at the smoke in the distance behind buildings in the city. If the princess was dead, what would become of him? Slaine could not imagine a life without her due to his adoration toward her; he had just lost his most treasured family member; the girl he loved and adored. Even if he knew he would have never been allowed to be with her he had hoped to live long enough to be of some use for her, and now it was all shattered. She was dead. Murdered.

The turbines – powered by two state of the art nuclear reactors – were started and the familiar rumbling and vibration from the ship waking up was heard and felt in Slaine’s cabin, which was a couple of decks above the engine room. Somewhere beneath flight deck the soldiers were hauling up the giant anchor with the help of the windlass, and other soldiers were hurrying to their posts. The massive carrier V.E.S. Tharsis protested against the force of the water it had to cut through by vibrating aggressively, before it resigned to the turbines’ brutal forces and obeyed Cruhteo’s command. The vibrations went silent and the bow thrusters began to direct the ship’s bow toward the city. To fight the war in clear daylight would become difficult for the sun sensitive creatures but Slaine knew the army of Vers was crazy enough to do it and relied fully on their sun protective equipment.

“Princess…” he said quietly as his view of the city disappeared when the ship had finally turned its bow toward the human territory.

An explosion was heard from the decks above and Slaine clenched his hands into fists. The cannons had fired their first rounds toward the human city, declaring the beginning of a second war.


	2. Beyond the Horizon

“ _You shall join Trillram on a mission and aid him as a blood sacrifice when needed. Additionally you shall protect him with your life if necessary and follow every order he gives you. Do you understand, human?_ ” Cruhteo’s powerful voice had said with an obvious hint of distaste of having to speak to the sweaty boy who had been called to the bridge of the ship after a busy training at the gym. Slaine had hurriedly left his workout to bow down in front of his lord and receive an order Cruhteo most likely had to share with him, and the cursed count seemed more than happy to inform him about it.

“ _Yes, my lord_ ,” Slaine had answered out of breath while kneeling in front of the man on the floor of the large bridge. His heart had been squeezing itself into a tight knot when Cruhteo had indirectly disowned him as his blood sacrifice and given him to the baron called Trillram instead to be used as a disposable blood bank. The cursed count had not said it out loud but Slaine knew what the creature meant with sending the human child out to a war.

“ _Be gone, human, and prepare for takeoff in two hours_ ,” his lord had said and Slaine had quickly obeyed and left the bridge with hurrying steps.

Now, minutes after Slaine had received the threatening order, he wandered through the small corridors of the ship toward his cabin to prepare himself. He had to pack his gear, such as the monitors and tests for his blood, and he had to bring with him supplements in case he would lose far more blood than he could give to his new lord.

The strained breath from his time in the gym had calmed down; it always did so quickly since Slaine was on the same level as an athlete when it came to fitness. To stay alert was highly important if he wanted to survive for as long as it was possible, and that he did by working hard at the gym and by keeping track of what he ate and drank. In order to maintain the desirable quality of his blood he had to push through many hours of tedious work, and in a way it saved his life in more ways than one:

Slaine had been intermittent hypoxic training every day for nearly two years which forced his body to adapt to reduced oxygen levels. He would spend an hour on a spinning bicycle or treadmill each day while wearing a mask which made him breathe hypoxic air during the workouts. The reduced oxygen activated the hormone erythropoietin to stimulate an increase of hemoglobin and red blood cells, and by that boost oxygen delivery to the muscles; once Slaine breathed in air with normal oxygen levels his blood would be enriched with oxygen. Basically, Slaine fooled his body to build more of the oxygenated blood the cursed creatures craved in order to survive; making him into a desirable prey – and at the same time Slaine would hopefully be able to endure higher amounts of blood loss than other humans. Slaine had not needed to test out his hypothesis yet though; no one had drained him so much of blood his body had been forced to fight for survival.

As he walked down the steel corridors he thought about Cruhteo’s order. Finally the human boy was being sent away to be dealt with; Slaine knew he would not come back from the war and it had been Cruhteo’s intention by sending him away onto a battlefield. The order had been clear but Slaine had understood the underlying purpose of it: Fly Sir Trillram to the shore and give blood to the cursed baron each time he was weakened, and once both of these orders had been fulfilled all Slaine had left to do was to lie down and die.

“ _You shall protect him with your life if necessary_ ,” Cruhteo had told him.

‘ _In other words he wants me to literally do that once I have fulfilled my purpose as a blood sacrifice, and not come back to the ship…_ ’

Even if he knew this there was no other choice but to obey. Trillram was a capable baron who would not hesitate to hunt Slaine down if the human would try to run. Trillram had always had a strong sense of ownership and integrity; he would not let his blood sacrifice run away since the baron thought the blood sacrifices belonged to him like his property. The cursed creature would control Slaine entirely simply due to him being faster, and Slaine expected the young cursed baron to not let the human boy out of his gaze.

‘ _I cannot run; I have nowhere to run or hide…_ ’

Slaine’s first problem on the list of things to worry about was of how he would be able to take off from the carrier’s short flight deck. He had been in a flight simulator before – 1403 hours to be exact – and spent 857 hours in the sky during training. This should have been enough – which it certainly was since Slaine had been drilled to perform well – but he had only simulated 56 liftoffs and landings onto an aircraft carrier out of 100 recommended; he had never tried it in a real jet fighter. Now he was supposed to do the real thing and with a cursed baron as his cargo. Despite Slaine’s fear Cruhteo seemed to show some kind of trust in the boy’s ability to transport the devil who had hunted Slaine for two years simply to induce horror into him for fun, to human shore.

‘ _The takeoff is easier than the landing, and since I’m not supposed to come back Cruhteo doesn’t have to worry about me crashing into the ship while trying to land onto the flight deck_ ,’ Slaine thought and felt his heart squeeze into a tight knot once again.

Hurriedly he walked past a briefing room from where he heard voices. Officers were in the middle of a briefing of soldiers who would be transferred to the warships of the Cruhteo fleet in order to go ashore and take over the coastal city. The human navy had been forced to retreat due to the overwhelming power of the cursed creatures’ fleets, and now a new order was to arrive to the soldiers.

Once Slaine walked past the room they all went quiet and the human boy felt their gleaming eyes stare at him for the brief second it took for him to walk past the door. Slaine walked faster, suddenly feeling an urgent need to hide. The gleaming eyes of the vampires in the briefing room felt dangerous and Slaine was sure they smelled the sweat – signaling he had been at the gym, and the scent of the oxygenated blood running in his veins was probably tempting them to have a sip from his neck or wrists.

‘ _I’m the only human on board_ ,’ he thought and felt cold sweat break out on his forehead and back. ‘ _Don’t come after me… I know you’re hungry for fresh blood._ ’

The cursed creatures on the ship lived on blood from large blood banks on board after Asseylum and her grandfather had decided no humans were to be brought on board simply to be a feeding source for the soldiers and officers. None of the cursed creatures enjoyed blood that was not fresh though, and a silent frustration drifted in the ship’s corridors like an unrested spirit. Slaine had always thought of the royal family of Vers to be kind toward humans, with the exception of Gilzeria – Asseylum’s father. Hunting was prohibited and only the humans who willingly gave their blood were allowed to be used for that purpose. However, since a ship was an isolated island it would mean danger for the humans on board. Supervision was impossible due to the narrow and labyrinthine corridors and compartments, and it was well known the vampires did not care about the laws when no one was watching.

The royal family did not trust their own kind enough to allow humans on board these floating communities since the traditional belief of humans being nothing but cattle still lived strong in the vampire population. Thus a law had been written to protect the willing blood sacrifices and give them the rights the UN had written in their Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the year 1948 – a declaration Asseylum had had strong beliefs in. All humans and vampires alike had a right to life and had the right of equality in the Vers Empire by law. This did not sit well with the elite nor the citizen, and discrimination and racism continued behind closed doors. The true reason of discrimination and racist beliefs had blossomed into unwritten laws under Gilzeria’s rule; the second generation vampire who also was Asseylum’s father. He had been killed in action fifteen years ago during the last day of Nightfall.

Slaine got to a mess hall and decided to take a shortcut through it to get to his cabin as fast as possible to prepare for his mission and hide from possible hunters. He was shocked to see at least 20 cursed creatures sitting in small groups here and there, whispering and laughing, talking and playing games. They were the ones who guarded and handled the blood banks and were waiting for further orders of when to begin heating up the frozen blood for the hungry crew returning from battle. They all went quiet the moment Slaine stepped in, and the boy slowed down and stopped. The crewmembers quickly ceased to be crewmembers and became nothing else but predators who watched the blood sacrifice with hungry eyes – smelling the sweet and delicious smell the boy emitted after the gym.

Despite that Slaine kept on going. Maybe it had not been a great idea to take a shortcut through the mess hall after all but it was too late for Slaine to do anything about it. If he turned around he would signal to the cursed creatures he tried to run away from them, and they would most certainly set after him. He had to be brave even if fear was shown clearly on his pale face.

None of the cursed creatures said a word and Slaine forced his now slightly trembling legs to move. As he had almost reached the door on the other side of the mess hall a cursed creature suddenly stepped in front of him – cutting him off from his route. A sudden panic flashed through Slaine’s mind and he stopped to look up at the female vampire who stared at him with the piercing and watchful eyes of a hunter. The human boy quickly lowered his gaze to walk around her and he silently prayed for her not to take a hold of him. The atmosphere was so heavy with their hunger for blood Slaine could almost feel how their hungry gazes tried to pull him back into the mess hall. They certainly contemplated on what to do and how to hunt him down if they decided to attack him. If they all agreed to stay quiet about it no one would know they had attacked him. It could go out of hand with one wrong move by either Slaine or the cursed creatures at any moment.

Slaine prayed the woman would stay put and not touch him. If one of the cursed creatures disregarded the unspoken rule of Slaine belonging to Trillram now, the rest was bound to follow. If one was brave enough to shoulder the consequences of taking Trillram’s blood sacrifice the others were glad to share it simply for the chance to drink fresh human blood taken forcefully from their prey. Slaine was sure the mere thought of an unwilling blood sacrifice made their needlelike teeth tingle with the instincts to hunt.

To Slaine’s relief the woman did not attack him, nor did the others. Slaine got out of the mess hall in one piece and hurried to walk down the corridor for a few meters before he released a trembling breath. The knees shook beneath him from immense fear as he walked and the trembling slightly threw off his balance. He had survived the encounter.

‘ _How many times do I fear for my life a day?_ ’ he thought. Of course, day meant night in the cursed world but since the human boy had lived in it for so long he had adopted the expressions the cursed creatures used. ‘ _At least twice a day_ ,’ he thought and put a hand on his chest to calm down the racing heart inside. ‘ _Why won’t they curse me? Am I not worth it? I don’t want to live like this now that Asseylum is-_ ‘

He could not even finish his own thought. It hurt too much to admit his childhood friend and secretly beloved was gone.

The steps echoed as Slaine walked down the metallic and steep ladder to the deck below where he had his cabin. The corridor was empty and all he heard were the aircrafts be projected into the air by the catapult mechanism on flight deck. The loud hiss of the pressured steam, which was used to operate the catapult, echoed in the ship and a loud rumbling of aircraft tires against the deck bounced around in the metallic corridors. Soon Slaine would be catapulted into the air as well.

As he had nearly reached his cabin the lights in the corridor suddenly went off. The surroundings became pitch black and Slaine stopped in his tracks. He quickly reached out his hand toward the wall next to him to his right to find support in the silent darkness, and his heart began to race from panic as he instantly understood what was going on.

‘ _I’m being hunted!_ ’

There were no other explanations to why the lights had been turned off; he still heard the turbines and auxiliary engines running so the ship could not have a blackout, and the emergency generator did not turn on to lit up the corridor with emergency lights as it should once a blackout had occurred. Someone must have cut the power to the lights in the corridor by purpose.

Slaine breathed heavily and pushed his back against the cold steel wall to make a desperate try to locate whoever was hunting him by listening intently to any kind of sound emitting from somewhere close by. He did not know if this someone was in front or behind him in the corridor and thus he dared not to move. It was impossible to see or hear anything due to the darkness and his raging heartbeat. He was sure whoever was hunting him heard his fastening pulse and panicked breaths, and he knew for certain they could see him perfectly.

‘ _What do I do!?_ ’ he thought and tried to force his eyes to see, but without a source of light he saw nothing. To be robbed of his sense of sight made Slaine’s skin crawl with terror and he was frozen to the spot.

A small sound at the end of the corridor behind him reached his ears. It sounded like a small hard object had been dropped onto the iron floor. Slaine turned his attention toward the sound and thought quickly:

‘ _I can find my way to my cabin even in the darkness. Should I continue moving?_ ’

He swallowed hard to ease his now parched throat and decided on trying to find his way in the darkness. It would make no difference if he stood there waiting for his hunter or tried to reach his cabin. It may have been someone pranking him simply to induce fear into him, and if Slaine pushed through the fear they would hopefully lose interest in him. If he was truly being hunted there was nothing else to do but to hope it was nothing but a cruel prank.

With his right hand against the wall he began walking toward his cabin and thought out a map in his mind to guide him. He had to pass four open watertight doors, turn to his right in the second junction, keep to his left and walk until he got to the fifth door, which lead into his cabin.

The frightened human boy began walking and let the wall to his right show him the way. This technique was what smoke divers used if they had to get into a burning section and saw nothing due to dense smoke. Slaine had been taught how to smoke dive during the firefighting training which every crewmember had to have when working on a ship.

‘ _Just follow the wall and don’t let go of it_ ,’ he thought. He concentrated so hard on seeing and hearing his hunter, his deep breaths turned into shallow and quiet inhalations. His panicked mind began to play tricks on him. For a moment he thought he saw something in the corner of his eye despite he rationally knew he could not possibly see anything in the darkness. Then he thought he felt a presence right in front of him and he stopped to make sure his passage was truly clear.

As he passed the first watertight door by stepping over the high doorframe, and continued toward the second door, a loud rattle was heard from the pipes right above his head – like that of a creature hurrying past him by crawling on the pipes in the ceiling. Something had run over his head on the pipes and disappeared somewhere in front of him. Slaine barely managed to hold his voice from screaming and he covered his mouth with his left hand, still holding onto the wall to his right. Horror was not the right word to describe how he felt there in the once again silent darkness. Anxiety and fear awoke in him to such degree he trembled violently as if he was in a state of hypothermia. A pressuring sensation dwelled in his chest like it was filled with a small high-pressure chamber which was about to blow.

‘ _I don’t want to die like this!_ ’ he thought and breathed shallowly with tears welling up in his eyes.

A loud bang echoed from behind him and he pushed himself against the wall again and released a frightened yelp. He would have been ready to cry was it not for the deep concentration of figuring out what was going on. Why did he hear something from behind him if the hunter had ran above his head, away from the direction the bang came from? Were there two hunters?

“Please…” Slaine said with a barely audible voice which trembled. “What d-do you want from m-me?”

Silence.

Slaine squeezed the chest of his uniform with his left hand and waited. No sound. No presence. No lights. Nothing.

He did not dare to move for several minutes but once he had convinced himself the hunter had disappeared and gotten enough of its fun of toying with him, he took a deep shaky breath and continued walking toward his cabin – still with his hand against the wall – despite he simply wanted to run. Due to the darkness he had no choice but to advance carefully.

He passed the second door, then the third and lastly the fourth without any sign of the hunter. As feelings of safety had begun to spread in Slaine’s mind and heart, he heard something land just a couple of feet in front of him. Slaine stopped immediately. He held his breath and stared into the darkness before him.

“Who goes there?” he asked quietly but got no answer.

‘ _But I’m almost there…! Go away!_ ’ he thought with tears in his eyes.

He was about to cower against the wall when something grabbed his ankle and began dragging him down the corridor with incredible speed. Slaine hit the floor hard enough his bones ached but he was busy screaming for dear life due to terror than react to the pain. Desperately he tried to grab something to hold onto but whoever was dragging him along was far stronger than him; each time Slaine got a hold of something – a corner or a pipe or a set of stairs – his fingers slipped after a violent tug from the one dragging him down the corridor.

Then finally Slaine was released and the hunter disappeared once again into the silent darkness. The terrified human boy got up from the cold floor and quickly backed up against the wall, and curled up with his arms covering his chest and neck. He had no idea where he was or how far away he had been dragged from his cabin. There was no way he could find to the right door now when he had lost track of where he was.

“Please…” he whispered with tears running down his temples. “Please… Don’t do this… P-put on the lights…”

A clatter was heard on the floor in front of him and Slaine closed his eyes and tried preparing himself as best as he could for a possible attack. He held his breath and waited but when nothing happened he slowly released his breath and opened his eyes. It was still dark and he waited for whatever was in front of him to assault him.

His blood turned to ice when he unexpectedly felt a breath against his left ear. Slaine froze from fear and dared not to turn his head toward the source of the breath, and he was just about to cry out when his reaction was interrupted by a whisper:

“Scared?”

A flashlight went on and lit up a face with deep shadows right next to Slaine’s, and the human boy screamed so loud his voice tore at his throat. He made a leap away from the ghastly smiling lit up face. The flashlight was thrown to the floor and lit up a small section of the corridor in front of him, and Slaine was quickly caught by his ankle so suddenly he fell against the floor again and was pulled back toward the darkness, out of the salvific glow of the flashlight.

“NO! LET ME GO!” the boy screamed and tried to find something to grab onto to stop from being pulled closer toward his hunter. “PLEASE!”

A smug laugh echoed in the silence and the weakly illuminated face soon hovered above him. Slaine froze as the breath of his hunter collided with his cheeks and he stared at the narrowed eyes glaring at him.

“I thought you would piss yourself from how scared you were,” he heard Trillram laugh from where he hovered above him by leaning against his arms supported against the floor, right above Slaine’s shoulders to prevent the boy from running away. “That was far more entertaining than I had expected.”

Tears streamed down Slaine’s temples as he watched his hunter laugh again. The boy breathed with deep breaths and trembled where he lay beneath the vampire, pinned to the cold steel floor. His heart raced and his entire body shook from shock.

“S-Sir Trillram…!” he stammered with a broken and silent voice and tried to gather his mind which had been scattered by terror.

“I heard you are going out on a mission with me,” Trillram then continued to say and suddenly turned serious. “Why would a useless blood sacrifice be assigned such an important mission as to accompany a baron to the battlefield?”

The cursed creature grabbed Slaine’s jaw and turned his head to the side. Slaine heard the cursed man sniff at his neck where he wore the adhesive plaster; where the scent of his blood was the strongest.

‘ _Is it leaking?_ ’ he thought and felt worried Trillram would not be able to control himself before they had arrived to their destination in the city of Shinawara.

“P-please… Wait until we have gotten to o-our destination…” Slaine whispered breathlessly. “I cannot fly properly w-with anemia…”

“I can sense you have been at the gym. You are nothing but a walking gourmet dinner with that blood of yours. To have you come along is a cruel joke by that prideful Cruhteo,” Trillram continued and raised his head to look at his prey again. “But I guess it will be helpful since I get the highest quality of blood available to fight with, fresh from its source,” he continued and made a pause to smile disgustingly pleased. Then, a second later as if a switch had been turned, Trillram got a sour look on his face: “I have heard you have never tried taking off from a flight deck of a carrier before.”

The man released Slaine’s jaw and the boy quickly turned his face toward Trillram and covered his neck with his hands to protect it from an anticipated attack.

“I am v-very sorry, Sir Trillram…” he whispered, still petrified. “I will do my utmost to be s-satisfyingly helpful, s-sir.”

Trillram raised an eyebrow without looking the slightest impressed and scoffed at the human boy with a snort. The cursed creature stared at him but then got off of him and stood up.

“Utmost is not good enough since it leaves room for mistakes, and I hate mistakes,” the man jeered with clear annoyance in his voice. “But since that Cruhteo has assigned you to follow me I guess I should accept his precious gift, in the form of a fine blood sacrifice.” The man leaned down and grinned at Slaine with his needlelike fangs glistening in the weak light from the flashlight. “I will suck you dry once we arrive…” the vampire hissed and then got up to walk away.

Slaine waited until Trillram’s steps had gotten distant before he pushed himself up on trembling arms. He looked at the flashlight still lying next to him and took it to look around in the dark corridor in an attempt to locate where he was. A sign saying Deck 4 Room 75-102 floated into the light as Slaine lit up the wall with the flashlight. He was three junctions away from his cabin and he slowly got up onto his shaking legs. It was more difficult to calm down than he thought; the adrenaline was so strong he felt as if he was high on a strong stimulant drug. His body was jittery and his eyes were wide open and barely able to focus on anything. The terror he had felt during Trillram’s sick play had been far worse than the usual fear of being attacked.

With his hand against the wall he walked down the corridor and finally got to his small claustrophobic cabin, which was only his. It had been out of question to make him share a room with cursed creatures and so he had gotten a cabin which was solely his – the only sanctuary he had.

†††

“ _I’m sorry but I’ve been put on standby. I can’t go with you_ ,” Yuki’s distressed voice said on the other end of the phone call later that evening.

The assassination of the cursed princess was still fresh in the brunet’s mind but he could not find any proper emotion to add to the experience. It had been something completely new to him and quite frankly – despite the attack had been shocking – Inaho was more bothered by the fact his everyday life had come to an end rather than a war breaking out. The war was the reason for everything changing but it was rather the effect of the war which bothered the boy, not the war itself.

‘ _That was not what we agreed on, Yuki-nee_ ,’ Inaho thought and looked out through the window in the kitchen. The city was empty of human life; most of the residents had already been evacuated according to the instructions from the government.

“Didn’t we agree we would leave town in your car, Yuki-nee?” Inaho asked and waited for his sister’s answer. He disliked when plans which had been decided beforehand were broken by the other party, and despite he knew Yuki – who was in the military – had to do as she was ordered to, Inaho still found it bothersome she did not hold her end of their agreement.

‘ _Now I have to figure out something else to do_ ,’ the boy thought.

“ _What!? Don’t tell me that you’re still at the house, Nao!?_ ” Yuki yelled in the phone, clearly upset. “ _Why didn’t you evacuate with the others!?_ ”

“Oh… I guess I could have,” Inaho answered with monotone.

The thought had not hit him he could have evacuated with the others since he and Yuki had agreed on leaving Shinawara together; it had been his plan and he had not been thinking about dishonoring it. His sister should have known to never make a plan with Inaho which she would not follow through since the boy took such things literally. Inaho would have waited for Yuki for as long as he had to if she had not called him just now.

“ _Adapt your plans for the situation_ ,” Yuki scolded him. “ _If you have to, trust your gut and make a decision. I always tell you that – don’t I?_ ”

With that Inaho promised his sister to catch one of the last evacuation transports going around town, took the tamagoyaki he had been preparing for dinner with him from the frying pan, and headed out onto the streets. The streets were empty but the birds which usually chirped away had not gone quiet yet. The loud chirping was suddenly louder than the boy was used to now that the traffic had disappeared from the streets.

He walked his usual route which he always took to get to the bus stop while he ate the tamagoyaki he had prepared earlier with the eggs he had bought on sale. He figured it would not do any harm to perform the last of his everyday routines before his comfortable life of predictability would come to an end. He would miss walking on these roads each morning and afternoon when going to and from school.

‘ _Is this the last time I do that?_ ’ he thought.

To his surprise the empty street was not as empty as he had assumed. Two young girls, covered with thick coats and hoods, walked past him on the walkway on the other side of the road, merging out of nowhere. He stopped to look at them. One of them were shorter than the other. They were probably an older sister taking care of her younger sibling.

‘ _Don’t they know about the evacuation advisory?_ ’ he thought and decided to follow them. He was in no hurry though, unlike the girls, and saw them walk fast toward an overpass and stop in its shadow beneath it.

“Excuse me,” Inaho said as he walked closer to them. The two girls still had their hoods up but reacted by becoming stiff and completely aware of his presence. “You should try to escape from here. There’s an evacuation advisory over the entire town.” He looked at their faces as they turned up their heads just slightly to look at him, and Inaho realized they were not Japanese. Maybe they had no understanding of what was going on since they did not know the language, he thought, and decided to help them to safety. “Are you tourists?” he asked. “Do you understand what I-?”

The older sister took a firm hold of his wrist and whispered to him she was sorry, and before Inaho had time to react he was mercilessly thrown against the brick walkway and pushed harshly toward it. These Westerners did not seem friendly considering one of them had thrown him against the ground as if he was as light as a glove.

‘ _That’s an incredible strength_ ,’ he thought surprised and shocked.

“Forgive me for this act of incivility but would you kindly answer my questions like this?” the older sister asked with perfect English and Inaho looked at her from the corner of his eye.

‘ _You don’t trust me even though you know I’m human?_ ’ the brunet thought.

“Go ahead,” the boy answered in English as well and the hooded girl thanked him for his cooperation. She asked him about the reason of the evacuation and Inaho answered with telling her Vers was attacking the cities of Japan. Tokyo had already fallen due to a concentrated surprise attack. “It’s not safe here,” Inaho continued.

“We need to proceed to the proper authorities and inform them of our safety. Where can I find them?” the girl continued.

‘ _She speaks oddly_ ,’ Inaho thought as he found her formal language and mission so unusual. ‘ _Authorities?_ ’

“Your embassy, you mean?” Inaho asked confused. “I doubt they are still staffed in this kind of situation.” The ground was beginning to feel cold as the chill crawled through his blazer. It was autumn after all. “Due to the assassination of the princess of Vers the United Nations have-“

“Princess Asseylum is-!” the girl said with grave distress, but she made a pause before she ended her sentence. “Is still alive… She is still alive…”

‘ _Still alive?_ ’ Inaho thought perplexed and suspicion washed over him immediately. ‘ _Why do you know that?_ ’

“She did not partake in the parade since she did not feel well after the boat ride. The sea was strong and made her ill,” the girl continued and then pressed her lips to a concerned thin line before saying: “A double took her place…”

‘ _I wonder how and why you know something like that_ ,’ Inaho thought again and felt a slight interest in the girl. She was not a common tourist – that was for certain. She seemed to have some kind of inside intelligence about the supposedly assassinated cursed princess. Maybe her father worked with the safety of the parade or worked at the hotel where the princess was supposed to stay during her visit? Inaho found his interest in her growing swiftly the more he thought about her words. If he managed to help her contact the authorities to tell them the cursed princess was alive, perhaps his comfortable everyday life would be restored?

‘ _I can walk the same road every morning again to take the bus to school_ ,’ the boy thought.

The brunet heard the little girl whispered about it being hard on the princess to know the body double had died in such a horrific act as terrorism.

‘ _Then where is she?_ ’

“That is the first time I’ve heard of that theory,” Inaho admitted and felt somewhat suspicious about the girls’ origin. Then again, it was not his job to interrogate people and so he decided to brush it aside. He had to get her away from the streets though, since they would soon turn into a hunting ground for the cursed creatures. The girls should not stay outside like this if they had information on the truth and the princess’s whereabouts. “A transport is supposed to arrive shortly. I messaged Inko about it. You can join me if you want.”

His sister had told him to trust his gut feeling, and right now his gut feeling said these girls had to come with him to all cost.

‘ _It’s better if you talk to someone who can do something about your theory_ ,’ he thought and was finally released by the older girl. He got up from the cold ground and did not bother to brush himself off since he knew he would probably get dirty again anyway, and began walking toward the agreed rendezvous.

“Follow me,” he said and the girls stared at him for a while before they followed him in silence with their heads strictly hidden from view.

‘ _Such peculiar people…_ ’ Inaho thought but kept on walking.

†††

The turbines of the jet engine screamed outside of the aircraft with their characteristic high frequency sound. The wind from the sea tugged slightly at the plane and Slaine watched the controls with nervousness. Trillram was sitting in the seat behind him and flight deck crew – dressed in sun protective gear – ran around to prepare the fighter jet for takeoff. The plane’s nose gear was attached to the catapult and the jet blast deflector had been raised at the rear of the aircraft, protecting the other aircrafts and crew from taking damage by the hot blast generated by the jet engine. A bead of sweat rolled down Slaine’s temple and his hands gripping the steering were wet inside his gloves.

“ _Slaine Troyard_ …” he heard Trillram say in the headphones and Slaine stiffened his shoulders. “ _Do not dare to slow me down once we arrive, blood sacrifice_.”

“No, sir…” Slaine said nervously.

The control tower announced the airspace to be clear and Slaine was given permission for takeoff once the aircraft was ready. Slaine looked up at the sky where chunky clouds drifted slowly and leisurely before he gave the aircraft more power and gritted his teeth as he heard the engine grow louder. It was his first real takeoff of a carrier and he trembled now when the time had finally come to do what he had been taught to do in the simulator. The chilling detail was this was not a training exercise but a real military mission. He would crash if his knowledge of handling the aircraft did not suffice. The sensation from the pull of the catapult was also new to him since the simulator he had trained in did not provide that.

Slaine checked the instruments of the aircraft which all showed the correct values for a launch.

“Control tower. Fighter jet Nilokeras ready for takeoff,” Slaine said in the headset, and the tower confirmed his message.

Slaine gave the crew on the deck thumbs up as a sign for him being ready, and the team relayed it to the launching crew. A sudden but powerful tug was felt in the aircraft and Slaine was pushed into the seat. He saw the end of the aircraft carrier’s flight deck come at him with a terrifying speed and a strong tingly sensation spread from his stomach all the way out to the fingertips. For a moment he was afraid the aircraft would not have enough wind beneath its wings since the runway was so short, and he thought they would run over the edge and crash into the sea. The ship’s edge came closer and closer and Slaine held his breath while gripping the steering so hard his fingers ached. Then the runway’s end disappeared from beneath the fighter jet – much sooner than Slaine had anticipated. The aircraft was slightly weighed down in the air as its wheels rolled off the edge but Slaine quickly commanded the aircraft further up into the air and it was slow to answer. A bead of sweat rolled down his temple but relief washed over him once the aircraft finally got enough air beneath its’ wings for it to be able to answer to Slaine’s command. With a smooth motion the aircraft began to rise gently toward the sky. The takeoff had been successful and Slaine pulled up the wheels beneath the aircraft. Relief washed over him now that he was finally up in the air; the landing on the normal runway in the city would be easy; he had landed an aircraft at an airport runway plenty of times to know how to do it perfectly.

“ _The soldiers in the city have cleared the airport. You can land there and we shall change to a vehicle once we have landed_ ,” Trillram instructed and Slaine answered with complying with the cursed creature’s order. “ _Since you will be my blood sacrifice you have to come with me. Make sure not to screw anything up, human_.”

“Y-yes sir…” Slaine answered and took a deep breath and steered the aircraft toward the city of Shinawara. He would see war for the first time and his mind would be tainted by the – still to him – unknown visions of death. It frightened him but at least he did not have to kill anyone. All he had to do was to follow Trillram and supply him with blood whenever the cursed baron wished for it – even if that particular task alone was frightening now when nothing protected him from Trillram’s greed for blood.

‘ _Will I really die out there?_ ’ the human boy thought and took a deep breath to calm down.

†††

The diesel engine rumbled tiredly and the military transport truck shook gently from the uneven asphalt it was traveling on. It was a heavily armored truck with a space for a gunman at the back. It was not armed which to Inaho’s taste was of substandard and not good enough during war time; they had no way of protecting the vehicle if they would be pulled into a fight. Inaho kept an eye on the outside world through a small window with binoculars, just as he had been taught at school during evacuation training. Now his knowledge came to use in a situation he disliked – a situation where he had to save people he did not know and aid the military in a war he had nothing to do with.

‘ _This war is not mine to fight. I’m just a child_ ,’ he thought comfortably and listened to Calm and Okisuke complain and joke around. He listened to Dr. Yagarai speak to Inko who sat next to the driver. The doctor thanked her for saving him as his car had run out of gas. In the worst case scenario the man would have been stranded in an area that would become a war zone any moment. They had just picked him up. ‘ _How convenient for you_ ,’ Inaho thought and peered through the binoculars

“I appreciate it,” the man said and Inaho heard Okisuke say:

“That goes for you as well, Inaho! Appreciate it for us having to come all the way and get you after your text to Inko.”

“Yeah,” Inaho gave as a usual short answer and kept staring out through the small window with the military binoculars, searching for signs of life that had to be saved.

‘ _What a bother…_ ’ Inaho thought. ‘ _Why aren’t the adults doing this?_ ’

It was not fair, he thought. To put children through something as dangerous and as heavy with responsibilities as evacuation was not logical. Inaho thought it was important to protect the children who would be the future of the human race, and he strongly disliked the inequity of using children for the task of evacuating the cities. He knew the adults were needed at more important places since they were combat ready ‘ _But that is none of my concern_ ,’ he selfishly thought. The adults should do what adults were supposed to do and solve the problem of being low on military manpower instead of solving it with a quick fix and force children into danger. ‘ _I and my friends should not carry this kind of responsibility yet. We’re only fifteen years old_ ,’ his frustrated thoughts said.

Calm and Okisuke continued with their friendly banter in the background. Inaho did not pay any mind to what they said and was not bothered by Okisuke taking it easy by not helping out – unlike Calm who hassled Okisuke to lend a hand with looking out of the windows for life signs. ‘ _I just do my job, and he can do whatever he wants_ ,’ Inaho thought but was suddenly woken up from his daydreaming as he heard Calm say with a quiet whisper:

“Those girls… Are they from Scandinavia perhaps? You don’t see them that often here in Shinawara.”

‘ _Is he talking about the strange girls I brought along?_ ’ Inaho thought and listened to Okisuke continue:

“What does it matter where they’re from? It’s all good with two beauties on board. Nicely done Inaho. You get ten points!”

‘ _There he goes again_ ,’ Inaho thought somewhat amused of Okisuke never losing his character, not even in a dangerous situation like the looming war they were facing.

“Thanks,” the brunet answered promptly and kept his eyes on the streets outside without participating in the conversation about the peculiar girls.

Suddenly the truck came to a halt and Inaho almost fell off the seat which he stood on to be able to see through the small windows of the vehicle, but managed to break his fall somehow. He turned to look toward the driver’s seat and saw a line of Type 90 battle tanks on the street in front of him, coming from the right in the road intersection, moving toward the harbor. Their caterpillar tracks rumbled louder than the engine in the evacuation truck and the hearth shook slightly from their heaviness. It was a massive sight to take in; Inaho had never seen as many battle tanks before.

“ _What are you people doing?_ ” Inaho heard his sister say in the speakers on the battle tank. “ _This area should have already been evacuated!_ ”

Inko seemed to catch on quickly and raised the radio to her lips, and urgently spoke:

“I recognize that voice. Is it you, Yuki?”

“ _Inko?_ ” Yuki asked baffled in the radio. “ _Wait! Is Nao with you?_ ”

“Yes, why?” Inko asked confused and Yuki sighed:

“ _Are you kidding me…?_ ”

“Huh?” Inko seemed even further confused.

Okisuke hurried over to the radio and took if from Inko’s hand, and asked urgently:

“Hey. If the tanks are moving toward the harbor, does that mean the enemies will be coming here to hunt?”

“ _That is right_ ,” Yuki declared seriously. “ _Enemy aircrafts have already taken off and are on their way here, and our navy has been forced to retreat; the cursed creatures' fleets are too strong for our navy to face out at sea. There are platoons already at the harbor on an anti-aircraft mission, trying to shoot the enemy aircrafts down, but there’s too many of them that this place will become a hunting ground within minutes._ ”

“But what about the evacuation ferries? Where do we go then if the harbor isn’t safe!?” Okisuke said slightly panicked. Finally the boy’s confident character had begun to waver.

“ _It doesn’t matter. Just find somewhere safe for now! If the bombs begin to fall, take shelter in the safety bunkers at the closest tunnel until it is safe to move. Don’t escape toward Tokyo. We will hold them off!_ ”

Calm looked at Inaho and the brunet felt his frustration grow.

‘ _Is this my fault?_ ’ he thought. He had been certain they would get to the harbor in time but maybe him asking Inko to do a detour to pick him up had been a mistake? The area would soon become a hunting ground for the cursed creatures according to his sister; they had to find a safe place immediately where they could wait for a rescue team. ‘ _And we will probably have to fight our way there._ ’

“Inaho…” Calm said with a troubled emotion to his voice, watching Inaho for some kind of confirmation about the seriousness of their situation.

“Yeah…” the brunet answered, confirming Calm’s worry about throwing themselves into combat.

‘ _We will have to fight_ …’ Inaho thought as the seriousness of the situation began to settle in him without him budging the slightest.

“ _When the night falls, be aware of the cursed creatures. They will hunt our shores like a swarm of grasshoppers on a green field; they won’t leave a single human alive_ ,” they heard Yuki warn them before the radio went silent and the tanks disappeared down the road toward the harbor.

‘ _Don’t die out there_ ,’ Inaho thought and watched his sister’s tank disappear from sight. They were on their own now, too late to evacuate and still early enough to find shelter if they were quick enough. Following the tanks would be suicide since they were heading toward where the war was raging the most. ‘ _We have to move away from them – as far as we can get with the limited time we have_ ,’ Inaho thought and turned to look toward the sky, anticipating the sight of an enemy aircraft any second.


	3. The Longest Day on Earth

“Two enemy fighters at one o’clock. They are flying toward us, sir,” Slaine said into the mask with a radio as he spotted the enemy aircrafts with his naked eye. The boy felt troubled as he announced the information and waited for the baron’s order on what to do.

‘ _This is just like in the simulator. Stay calm_ ,’ the boy thought and gritted his teeth, even if he knew a simulation was much more different than the situation he was in now.

“ _I noticed them in the radar. Suicidal, are they?_ ” he heard Trillram say in the radio with deep amusement dripping like thick honey from each of the cursed creature’s words. “ _I will be happy to oblige._ ”

The radar panel in front of Slaine began to blink with a warning as the enemy aircrafts came closer. He kept his eyes open, looking at the direction from where the enemy aircrafts were coming from to keep a look out on their movement. That was when he saw it, and his breath was caught in his throat: Missiles were on their way toward them. The blond boy felt a tremble run through him. This time it was not a simulation. He could not delude himself with wishful thinking. In the simulator he had been successful at dodging any kind of missiles but now his life was on the line; if he made one wrong move he would die.

‘ _Dogfight missiles…_ ’ he thought. The dogfight missiles were short distance air-to-air missiles, made to seek out the heat of enemy aircrafts and lock onto that heat and chase it – also called infrared homing system. Normally IR missiles were released from behind the enemy aircrafts to hit the engines but these came from the front probably as a desperate way to chase Slaine and Trillram away. In these situations of desperation Slaine had heard enemy aircrafts would lock onto each other as a warning, but this time the human fighters seemed more desperate than simply giving Slaine and Trillram a threat to back away.

“ _Missiles are tracking us_ ,” Slaine heard Trillram say in the radio. “ _Let me see what you can do, human_.”

Slaine went into the method of counteractions exactly as he had been taught in a situation like this. He turned the aircraft toward a thick chunk of clouds and dove into it to hide from the enemy aircrafts.

“Dispensing chaffs,” he continued and released the radar confusing fibers into the cloud to create an electromagnetic smoke screen, hopefully disrupt the enemies from finding them on their radars, depending on what radar they used. “Releasing flares,” he then said and opened the dispenser for the decoy flares. The flares burned hotter than the aircraft’s engine exhaust to confuse the missiles to attack them instead of the aircraft they had originally been tracking.

At that Slaine quickly climbed the sky to disappear from the explosion once the missiles would hit the flares, and made a flawless Immelmann turn directed toward the enemy aircrafts. Nilokeras answered Slaine’s commands with grace and it cut through the air like a needle, pleased to stretch its wings. The missiles hit the decoys and with that Slaine dared to fly past the enemy aircrafts beneath him and slow down to make a quick reverse Immelmann turn and descend behind the enemy aircrafts. Then he increased the speed to catch up with them since he had to confront them head-on. To run away would be a foolish move since the human pilots would most likely try to attack them again once they noticed Nilokeras had survived the blast, and to turn their back to the enemy could turn out to be fatal. Slaine knew he had to deal with them before the boy and cursed baron could move on toward their destination. Nausea welled up in the boy from worry of how to deal with the fellow humans in the aircrafts in front of him.

“ _Impressive, Slaine Troyard_ ,” he heard Trillram say with an amused laugh in the headphones.

“T-thank you, Sir Trillram…” Slaine whispered and felt cold sweat cover him once again now that he had the enemy aircrafts in his target.

“ _Open fire_ ,” Trillram ordered and Slaine gritted his teeth so hard he thought they would break.

‘ _How can I? They’re humans… Just like me_ ,’ he thought and got tears in his eyes as he felt his thumbs rest on the buttons which would open a wall of deadly fire at the enemy. ‘ _I can’t…!_ ’

“ _You cannot do it? I guess Cruhteo did not train you enough. You blood sacrifices sympathize with each other no matter if you are strangers or not_ ,” Trillram mocked him. “ _Then let me continue drilling you: I order you to fire!_ ”

“S-sir…” Slaine began to say but suddenly felt Trillram reach up behind him to put a strong hand around his throat. The blond let out a surprised yelp and the aircraft made a sudden move from the horrid surprise, but Slaine quickly leveled it out again and kept it steady.

“ _Fire… Or then you shall die in their place_ ,” the vampire hissed and Slaine swallowed hard and stared at the exhausts of the enemy aircrafts. The human pilots had just noticed the Nilokeras tailing them.

Slaine had to think quickly. He knew Trillram did not hesitate to kill him. If the baron decided to do so he could simply take control of the aircraft and kill the enemy anyway. Slaine as a pilot was simply there to aid Trillram, and since Trillram had no experience of taking off from an aircraft carrier Slaine had had that function to fill as well. Now, when they were up in the air, Trillram could land on an airport runway with or without Slaine.

‘ _I don’t want to die!_ ’ Slaine thought and felt tears gather in the corners of his eyes as Trillram’s grip tightened around his throat and sharp nails cut into the soft human skin. He knew he had to do as he was ordered. ‘ _It’s either you or me…_ ’ The boy had no idea why he was afraid of dying now when his secretly beloved princess had passed on to the other side. Slaine had still something to live for and he was not sure if it was because he was terrified of dying or because he had things to do before stepping over the thin line separating his existence from the darkness of death. ‘ _I’m a coward. I’m not brave enough to die no matter how much Trillram tortures me. I want to live!_ ’

The human boy took a deep breath and held it to gather his determination, pushed the buttons for opening fire and watched as the enemy aircrafts – flown by his fellow humans – got hit. One after the other lost their controls and those who tried to escape were too late; Slaine released dogfights at their tales. Slaine knew the dogfights were too close for the human pilots to escape them and the boy prayed for their death to be quick.

‘ _I’m sorry!_ ’ the child thought and climbed the sky once again to get away from the explosions. ‘ _I’m so sorry!_ ’

The tears which had sprung to his eyes rolled down his cheeks as the waterline was overflown, and Slaine’s teeth ached as he gritted them to hold back a whimper. He had done his first kills – the first murders of his life.

“ _Good blood sacrifice_ ,” Trillram praised with a chuckle and let go of Slaine’s neck with the cold fingers caressing the boy’s neck with deliberate tenderness, and sat back down into his navigator seat. “ _Remember who owns you, human. Take me to the airport_.”

“Y-yes, Sir Trillram…” Slaine whispered and felt a bad taste spread in his mouth as he counted how many kills he had made just moments ago.

‘ _Four people…_ ’

He felt nauseous of his decision to kill his own kind since he was too much of a coward to die in their place. Guilt, shame, self-loathing and remorse raged inside his small frame, shattering his humanity with horrible quivering.

‘ _Trillram would not have spared them anyway_ ,’ he reminded himself and looked out through the aircraft’s canopy. The war in air was unbalanced; the humans were losing to the great amount of highly advanced aircrafts launched from V.E.S. Tharsis and other nearby Versian fleets. The humans’ fighter jets were of an older model which did not seem to carry as modern equipment as the cursed creatures’ aircrafts did. It was not a surprise for Slaine though; he had known the humans had lost a lot of their military equipment in the previous war fifteen years ago, and the constant watch of the cursed creatures had made the human race fear building their army anew with the scarce material they had, in case the activity would alarm the cursed creatures. Besides, many factories had been main targets in the previous war which had rendered the human civilization helplessly lost on how to build their cities and armies anew.

“ _Stay on low profile and take us higher; do not engage in a dogfight if you can avoid it_ ,” Trillram ordered him and Slaine obeyed.

“Yes sir…” Slaine mumbled and turned the aircraft even higher up into the air to avoid enemy aircrafts who flew on lower altitude.

The former Russian military had been the greatest in the world and yet it had been completely lost to the cursed creatures. Before the world had understood what the cursed creatures were, and before the military had known anything about being under threat, it had already been infiltrated by cursed creatures under Rayregalia Vers Rayvers’ command. The same infiltration had happened at the political field by Asseylum’s father himself, who had become the Russian Minister of Defense before he had been turned into a cursed creature by his father. The man had told the ministers he had fallen ill but in reality he had been cursed and turned into a vampire. Later Gilzeria had shown up at the congress with an idea to attack the vampire colonies, which had been considered insane by the rest of the ministers due to the lack of understanding what they were supposed to fight against. The president had been the only one to accept Gilzeria’s idea, and since the president had been the Supreme Commander-in-Chief the others had not had a word to say in the matter.

That idea had in fact been a plan to take down the human army and get a hold of their equipment by making the army busy with preparations; too busy to fight off an unexpected attack. Within days the vampires had gone to attack from both inside and outside the military, and slaughtered the unprepared human soldiers and cursed those who were willing to switch sides. The war had lasted for weeks all over Russia and many cursed creatures had been lost to fire attacks and been incinerated, but most of them had survived due to vampires not dying from being shot with normal bullets. Quickly it had spread across the world and that had been the start for the several decade long war called Nightfall.

This was what Slaine had been told by Asseylum, and it seemed to be the story everyone Slaine had encountered had known. Now the Empire of Vers was equipped with incredible military power, overwhelming NATO and United Nations along with every other military in the world. It was not only the equipment which made Vers into an incredible force of nature, but also the superhuman traits the cursed creatures had by pushing their undead bodies to incredible levels of strength and harm due to their bodies not knowing its boundaries. The only country which had been strong enough to push the cursed creatures back had been the United States of America – the country responsible for Gilzeria’s assassination and the hero who ended Nightfall 15 years ago. Slaine had a feeling the military of USA would attack the Versian military within days once they had gathered their forces; this second war had not spread across the world yet but other countries would certainly join as fast as they could to suffocate the Versian fire of war.

“ _The airport is in view at three o’clock_ ,” Slaine heard Trillram announce and the boy looked out through the canopy.

The runway of an abandoned airport came into Slaine’s view. He could catch a glimpse of large commercial aircrafts which stood still at their gates while others stood abandoned outside hangars and storage spaces. The ground burned here and there, possibly from bombs dropped by the Versian aircrafts which now stood waiting on the ground below Nilokeras. The cursed creatures had probably already begun to prepare themselves for the night’s hunt.

“ _Land_ ,” Trillram ordered Slaine, and the human boy obliged.

Slaine made a turn in the air to get into the correct position for the runway and began to descend and slow down the speed. This landing was easy since he had landed on a normal runway many times before, and he felt calm while doing it; it was the landing on the aircraft carrier he was afraid of. The ground came at him with perfect speed and the boy let the landing wheels fall out and kept the aircraft perfectly in level with the ground. Once he was close enough he pulled the nose up just slightly to let the wheels at the aft touch the ground first and within seconds they kissed the asphalt gently. He slowed down the speed further and let the front wheel touch the ground as well, and once the entire aircraft was securely on the ground Slaine pulled the breaks. The aircraft obeyed with joy – happy to have the gentle Slaine behind its controls – and then finally it stopped.

“ _Well done, human!_ ” Trillram praised with a brash tone and Slaine nervously thanked the baron and opened the canopy to let Trillram out of the aircraft.

The chilly autumn air caressed the human boy’s cheeks and the smell of burnt rubber and oil drifted to his nostrils the moment he took of the oxygen mask from his face. He watched Trillram climb out of his seat and jump down onto the ground with his helmet still on to protect him from the sun. Slaine removed his helmet due to the uncomfortable heaviness of it and followed the cursed baron as he walked toward a hangar where a dozen of cursed creatures waited for them, some with civilian clothes and others who obviously were soldiers who had arrived to the airport moments earlier.

“Sir Trillram,” a man in a brown civilian leather jacket said and bowed to the baron who walked toward them. Once Trillram got into the hangar’s shadow he removed his helmet. “I greet you welcome to Shinawara. The mission was successful.”

‘ _Mission?_ ’ Slaine thought confused and was about to follow Trillram into the hangar but was gestured to stop by Trillram who held up his hand in a fist above his shoulder. Slaine stopped in his tracks and bowed his head as to say he had understood the baron’s order, and the boy turned around and walked back to the aircraft to check the fuel and engine. ‘ _What are they talking about?_ ’ Slaine wondered and could not help but to peek over his shoulder at the cursed creatures conversing in the hangar. A teenage girl – dressed in civilian clothes and with beautiful wine-red hair – stood among them. She seemed to be the same age as Slaine. ‘ _A child? Here?_ ’ She was obviously a cursed creature herself and Slaine felt instantly sorry for her: She was stuck in that age for as long as she lived. ‘ _Just like Asseylum would have been…_ ’ he thought saddened.

Asseylum’s father had cursed her the moment the war broke out, making her into a third generation vampire. She had been fifteen years old and her body had been denied of growing up into an adult woman. Cursing a minor had been taboo before Gilzeria’s rule since Asseylum’s grandfather had ordered in the past that no one would be turned into a cursed creature unless they were at least 20 years old. Gilzeria had disregarded that law once Nightfall had begun by justifying his own values of what a life was worth:

“ _To save those you love from dying by lead bullets aimed at their heads, and to save them from getting knives buried in their backs or be beaten to death by angry mobs – curse them now and give them the power of immortality!_ ” the former Emperor had said in a long charismatic speech. The man had convinced people to have children be cursed by their relatives and now the amount of cursed creatures with bodies of children were many. It was a sorrowful sight to see, Slaine thought, and the boy felt empathy for the girl with red hair who stood behind the civilian dressed vampires.

‘ _But vampires are not immortal. They live until their luck runs out, that’s all…_ ’ Slaine thought and closed his eyes as his chest ached. ‘ _Asseylum…_ ’

Suddenly he heard a high pitched shriek from the hangar. Slaine turned his blue eyes toward the shadows inside it and saw a bloodbath take form. Soldiers attacked the civilian dressed cursed creatures and Trillram murdered the man in the brown jacket who had welcomed the baron to Shinawara. The deoxygenated blood – dark red due to it lacking oxygen after the creatures had consumed it – covered the asphalt and dead vampires fell to the ground with loud thuds.

Slaine’s heart skipped a beat and confusion and horror flowed through him in an instant seeing the amount of blood flowing in the shadows.

“DAD!” the girl screamed highly distressed and stared at the blood bath with wide and terrified eyes.

Her scream alerted the cursed baron who had murdered the girl’s father and turned toward her with predatory eyes, thrilled to finally have gotten a moment to kill. The menacing aura of a hunter was wild in Trillram while he walked toward her, thrilled to kill her as well. The girl could only stare at him with horror. She was pinned to the spot, not being able to react by running away. The horror must have had its claws deeply buried in her to render her unable to flee and save herself.

‘ _No! He will kill her!_ ’ Slaine thought with panic and began running before he had understood what he was about to do. He had no idea how old the girl actually was, but his human instincts told him to protect her: She looked like a child and thus Slaine saw her as one – a child who should not be murdered by the baron; a child who had the right to live and love; a child who still had a future.

Slaine watched Trillram raise his hand into the air and aim at the girl who, with fear in her expression, only stared at him while shaking visibly from fright. She probably had never met a cursed baron before, nor seen any other noble vampires; she had no idea how little cursed creatures could care about others, even their own kind. Slaine pulled the deflated life vest pilots wore over his head and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He stepped into a puddle of blood but did not stop as it splashed all over him, and he threw the life vest around Trillram’s wrist to catch it before the cursed creature would slash its claws through the girl.

“SIR TRILLRAM!” Slaine yelled with adrenaline spewing into his bloodstream with such amounts he suddenly felt stronger than he had ever felt before. “STOP!”

The vampire’s attack was halted but Slaine knew it was not because the human boy had been stronger; the cursed baron had stopped to turn his attention to the insolent boy instead. When Trillram turned to look at Slaine with infuriated eyes Slaine instantly wanted to take a step back from him. Horror grabbed his heart and mind. The look the cursed baron gave him was heavy with murderous intent and not until now did Slaine understand what he had done; he had angered his master.

‘ _No matter what I say or do now, he will attack me_ ,’ he thought and decided he had to continue with the attempt of saving the girl. Nothing would stop Trillram from hurting him now.

“Run!” Slaine yelled to the girl, who quickly obeyed and dashed into the remaining sunlight of dawn with the hood over her head. Slaine turned his attention toward Trillram and said with a shaking breath, after he released the life vest – which now hung around Trillram’s arm: “F-forgive me, sir… I just… She was just a c-child…”

Trillram did not say a word and instead raised his arm into the air. Slaine closed his eyes in an instant and waited, and the powerful hit against his jaw sent him flying backwards. He fell onto his back on the ground and hit his head against the asphalt, and a great headache exploded in his skull. Nausea welled up in Slaine’s stomach and his vision spun.

The creature lowered itself over him, pushing him down against the blood covered asphalt after it had been soaked with the blood from the murdered vampires, and he felt Trillram’s breath against his cheeks as the cursed baron hissed:

“How dare you, blood sacrifice…? How dare you!? Have you any idea of what you have done!?”

‘ _Why are you so threatened by a girl…?_ ’ Slaine wondered with muddled thoughts.

“F-forgive me…” Slaine slurred and tried to force the nausea down and stabilize his vision, but it was impossible. He must have hit his head hard enough to have a weak concussion.

“Once sun goes down, you will be my first dinner,” the baron whispered. “I know Cruhteo enjoys your blood like no one else’s but now you belong to me.”

‘ _If you’re going to kill me now who will supply you with high quality blood?_ ’ Slaine thought and wished to voice it but he feared he would vomit if he did, and so he kept silent. ‘ _At least I saved a life…_ ’

“Sir. Shall we go after the girl?” a cursed solider said somewhere close by and Slaine heard Trillram answer:

“Chase her down, you imbeciles!”

‘ _I took four lives earlier… Now I have paid one of them back with saving one. I’m sorry, girl, but this is all I can do to help you_ ,’ Slaine sighed silently and felt himself be lifted up from the blood covered ground and carried away, before his mind blanked out.

†††

“Headquarters!” Inko yelled into the radio but nothing but white noise came out of the speakers. “Headquarters, come in!”

“Jammers?” Okisuke asked with his eyebrows furrowed with worry. “Haven’t we gone in circles for a while now? We’re almost at the airport and darkness is falling.”

“What else are we supposed to do? Wherever we go there’s danger to greet us. The creatures have surrounded the entire city!” the driver said with great frustration while a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.

Inaho felt troubled. The cursed creatures had been quick to invade the city since the anti-aircraft platoons did not seem to be able to handle the amount of enemy aircrafts coming toward Shinawara. More and more cursed soldiers were showing up all across the city and no matter where the group of human evacuees had gone to find shelter there had been enemies to meet them. They had been on the road for hours now and the entire city was cut off from the outside world.

‘ _We have nowhere to go_ ,’ Inaho thought concerned.

They had to get to a bunker and quickly, but Inaho knew they could not hide in the bunkers located in the tunnels around the city for long before the cursed creatures would find them and try forcing the bunkers open. If they stayed in a bunker and waited for someone to save them they would certainly fall as victims to the creatures who would either wait them out or force the bunker open. They could not escape through the harbor either since it was under attack by warships. The roads out of the city were blocked. The only pathway they had out of the city was by foot through the forest surrounding the area but that would be the same as suicide; the cursed creatures would probably hide among the dense shadows of the trees once the sun went up.

‘ _Where do we go?_ ’ the brunet thought.

An explosion loud enough that Inaho’s ears nearly went numb came from the street next to them at the intersection where they had met Yuki and the caravan of tanks earlier that day; they had ended up on the same road again after going in circles. The brunet turned to look at the fire which lit up the area like a bright campfire. It was a tank in flames and dead UN soldiers lay on the ground. Cursed soldiers were on the street and a lone woman dressed in UN uniform was shooting toward them in a last desperate stand against the bloodthirsty beasts while protecting a terrified civilian girl.

Inaho recognized her immediately and shock froze his body. His sister was going to fight alone till her last breath, believing she had no other choice but to take as many of the cursed soldiers as possible with her into death now that her squad had been taken down.

‘ _We’re here_ ,’ Inaho wished to say but his mind began going through all of the alternatives they had. ‘ _If I open the door now and call for her the creatures will know we are here and wide open for an attack_.’

“Yuki!” Inko yelled with surprise after pulling the window next to her down before Inaho had come to a conclusion of what to do.

“What are you doing here!?” Yuki yelled as she realized the evacuation truck was still on the streets. She seemed to say something to the terrified girl who then quickly ran toward the truck while Yuki tried to hold the cursed creatures at bay. “Get that girl on board and high-tail out of here!”

Calm opened the door quickly to let the girl in, but the moment the door was opened and the sounds from outside became clearer, the driver panicked, screamed irrationally about them being sitting ducks like this and opened the driver's seat door to run. Everyone in the evacuation truck went silent with shock and surprise of watching the panicked driver run out into the dangerous twilight world where deadly cursed creatures would prey upon him. Within the moment of a couple of breaths he was jumped by a cursed creature with incredible speed and force, and a trail of blood was all that was left of him as the man disappeared from sight to be fed upon somewhere peaceful.

“Close the door!” Okisuke yelled as he snapped out of shock and Inko hurried to climb to the driver’s seat and pull the door closed. Before she got to it two vampires directed their attention to her and began to run toward the evacuation truck. “Close it!”

“I’m trying!” Inko screamed back and managed to get a hold of the door handle.

“INKO, HURRY!” Calm yelled and pulled the heavy armored door to the passenger seats closed with a loud bang.

The creatures ran closer and Inko pullet on the heavy door with desperation. The creatures reached the truck and a half second before they managed to get into the vehicle the girl pulled the door closed and locked it. With her breath caught in her throat she stared at the cursed soldiers on the other side of the enforced window, and the creatures’ breath covered the window with vapor while they stared at her with a nasty grin on their lips and eyes wide with excitement to hunt.

‘ _They haven’t hunted for a long time_ ,’ Inaho thought as he saw the animalistic fire in their eyes. He had been taught that cursed creatures had a need to hunt, much like cats who hunted partly for the need to feed and partly because it was fun. These creatures were bursting with the need to hunt frightened humans to feel the thrill of a hunt. They had not noticed the human woman moving behind then though, but Inaho was keeping an observing eye on her.

“T-that was close…” Calm said trembling and collapsed onto a seat as his legs refused to support his weight. The girl crawled up among the other evacuees. “W-we need to get away from here before they force the door open.”

“Inko. Drive,” Inaho said and the girl looked up at the boy for a short moment to let Inaho’s words sink into her mind, before she nodded with a determined expression.

Inko climbed to the driver seat while she tried her utmost to avoid looking at the haunting creatures outside the window next to the seat. As she was about to step on the acceleration pedal the two vampires outside of the window – just inches away from her – fell down to the ground.

“What in the-?” Inko said and Inaho looked out of one of the side windows.

“Yuki-nee,” the brunet said. “She’s climbed onto the gun seat of the truck, signing to us to move.”

Inko did not hesitate to stomp on the accelerator and turn the vehicle around to set them in motion toward the city again, deeper into the jungle of concrete buildings. Inaho’s sister strapped herself to the handles at the gun seat of the vehicle and took aim at the cursed soldiers running after them, and began to shoot.

“Your sister is crazy!” Calm said baffled and stared at Yuki through the windows. The woman’s hair fluttered violently in the wind.

“She won’t survive if the vampires gets onto the truck!” Okisuke said distressed and seemed to not know what to do.

Inaho quickly brought up the city map onto his cellphone which he had kept in his blazer pocket, and quickly scanned through the area they were in.

‘ _We need to get into safety immediately. Whatever bunker will do for now_ ,’ he thought as the situation had quickly become critical; Yuki was wide open for an attack. They could not stop to let Yuki inside the vehicle. If they did the creatures would catch up with them and force themselves into the truck, and so a safe place was a must right now in order to save his sister. ‘ _We will figure something out once we are safe in a bunker_.’

“Inko,” he said and stared at an intersection on the map which was promising. “Make a sharp turn left at the next intersection. Don’t go straight through it.”

“But I can’t slow down this late! It will be a violent turn and possibly knock Yuki out!” Inko protested.

“Just do it,” Inaho encouraged urgently and watched the vampires get closer to them as they sped up with the vehicle, running with superhuman speed like starved creatures giving their all to catch a prey.

“But Inaho!”

“JUST DO IT!” Inaho yelled as a cursed creature had nearly caught up to the truck, and with that Inko obeyed and turned the steering wheel toward the left.

The tires screeched and everyone in the truck who were not strapped down against the seats along the walls tumbled around. Nina, Calm and Okisuke slid across the floor and slammed into the right wall of the truck along with other passengers. The two strange girls screamed along with everyone else and hit their heads against the wall they were strapped to. Inaho fell toward the right wall and hit his back against it, dropped his phone and fell down onto the floor once the vehicle straightened itself and followed the road Inaho had given instructions to follow.

“Yuki!” Calm yelled and hurried up from the heap of people to look at Inaho’s sister outside the window. “She’s knocked unconscious and hangs in the straps, but the vampires couldn’t follow our turn and we have shaken them off. They are coming back quickly though!”

“We need to save her!” Okisuke exclaimed and opened the roof hatch. “I need a gun!”

“It’s too dangerous!” Nina shrieked and hurried to strap herself to a seat in case a new sharp turn would be made.

“But we can’t leave her there!” Okisuke continued urgently and rummaged around in the now dead driver’s military bags and found a gun which was loaded with silver bullets, and climbed up through the hatch. “Drive safely, Inko!”

“Safely!?” the girl at the wheel yelled back.

“For god’s sake! Don’t try to be a hero, Okisuke!” Calm yelled to the daring boy and tried to convince Okisuke back into the truck.

“I’m all right!” the stubborn boy answered from the roof.

While Okisuke did what he thought was best Inaho picked up the phone from the floor and saw its screen had been damaged with a nasty crack. It was still functional and he scanned the map again to determine if he had been correct about turning left. The main road where the princess of Vers had been murdered was right next to them on the other side of the buildings to their right.

“There is a tunnel up ahead with bunkers and UV lights at the openings,” he said to Inko after he had made sure they were on the right road.

“Perfect!” Inko answered and kept the truck on the road toward their safety.

A military vehicle came up from their right from the direction of the main road and surprised them. It drove up right next to them and Inaho saw the flash of hungry eyes from the door openings, glaring at the boy on the roof.

‘ _Vampires!_ ’ the brunet thought and looked toward the hatch from which Okisuke had climbed through. ‘ _Okisuke!_ ’

He quickly climbed up the ladder to look at where Okisuke was and saw him lie down on the roof trying to strap himself to one of the safety handles. The unknown truck next to them drove into them, trying to force the evacuation truck from the road, but Inko masterfully kept the truck on its course. The rumble of metal against metal was loud as the enemy truck crashed into the right side of the evacuation truck, and it sent the evacuation truck swaying violently.

“W-woah!”

Okisuke was about to fall off the roof from the violent crash before Inko managed to stabilize the truck, and Inaho managed to quickly grab the boy’s wrist before he rolled over the edge. It left Okisuke hanging on the truck’s left side and the brunet put all his strength into his hand to keep the boy from falling off.

“Inaho!” Okisuke yelled distressed as their hands began to slip from Okisuke’s weight.

‘ _I will not let you go!_ ’ Inaho thought and concentrated as much power into his grip he possibly could muster. His fingers ached horribly as he held Okisuke’s wrist tightly.

The enemy pickup suddenly pulled its breaks and then caught up to them from the left side instead. The cursed creatures seemed to ignore the unconscious Yuki who hung in her straps at the back of the truck, and went mercilessly for the defenseless Okisuke. Inaho quickly glanced toward the enemy truck and noticed a teenage blond haired boy lay on the truck floor, unconscious. He was dressed in the uniform of a Versian soldier with large blood stains over his uniform. It was probably a hurt Versian soldier who was in critical need for fresh human blood to heal and continue his duty.

‘ _Are they trying to recuperate him with Okisuke’s blood?_ ’

“Hurry back up,” Inaho said urgently but Okisuke was incapable of doing that due to there not being anywhere for the boy to grab onto and pull himself up.

“I can’t! Inaho!” the boy yelled back with tears in his eyes and then noticed the truck drive up to him, and Okisuke’s face turned pale from fright.

The boy turned to look at Inaho again, begging him to save him as the boy now began to realize his ill fate. With desperation Inaho tried to pull him up but he was too weak to pull the entire weight of the boy with one hand. His hand was sliding from Okisuke’s wrist and their fingers desperately tried to hold onto each other’s.

‘ _Okisuke!_ ’ Inaho thought as he began to realize he could not save his friend. There had to be a way. Okisuke could not die. ‘ _You’re my friend! You can’t die like thi-!_ ’

A loud and brash chuckle assaulted their ears, interrupting Inaho’s thoughts:

“Let me help you with that,” the smug voice yelled in English from the truck next to them and Inaho saw the gleam of hungry cursed eyes smile at them from the open door of the enemy truck.

‘ _I have to try harder!_ ’ the brunet thought distressed and made one last attempt to pull the boy up before his friend would be lost forever. The cursed creature took a hold of Okisuke and the boy’s eyes widened with horror. With a motion which looked simple, the cursed creature pulled the boy’s hand from Inaho’s and forced the boy into the enemy truck. The brunet looked stunned at the cursed creature biting into his screaming friend’s neck, rendering the frightened human boy unable to fight back as the vampire’s poison spread through his body.

“Okisuke…” Inaho mumbled with shock as the enemy truck slowed down to let the cursed creatures on board have their share of the boy before he was emptied of blood.

The evacuation truck entered the tunnel and stopped. Calm hurried out of the truck to activate the UV-lights to protect them from the cursed creatures following them. The tunnel’s opening lit up with a concentrated light screen, screening off the tunnel from the road outside. Once the lights had been lit Calm looked up at the roof of the truck where Inaho sat on his knees and stared at Yuki who hung at the back of the truck.

“It’s okay now! You can get down from there! We aren’t followed anymore!” Calm yelled with relief but went silent as he saw Inaho climb down alone from the roof to help his unconscious sister. “Hey, Inaho… Where’s Okojo?”

Okisuke’s nickname. Okojo… That name rang in Inaho’s ears and the brunet could not find words to say. The boy was lost and was by now eaten away by the cursed creatures who feasted on his young blood without empathy for the boy dying in their arms.

‘ _This is what I mean of children not supposed to fight a war_ ,’ Inaho thought and cached his sister’s limp body with his arms as he released her from the straps, and brushed her tussled hair from her face. She had a wound on her head which bled slightly but it was not bad enough he had to tend to it. ‘ _We die before we have gotten the chance to live_.’ If they had not been tasked with the responsibility to evacuate the town Okisuke would have still been with them. ‘ _There was nothing I could do… I had no weapons to protect him with…_ ’

Anger flared up in the boy. It was such a strong emotion he was shocked by its overwhelming strength and yet it felt encouraging. It warped in his mind – turning from pure anger into hate and then into a thirst for vengeance. He wanted to avenge Okisuke’s death and he wanted to save others from the same fate as the boy. Inaho knew he had to get invested in the war as a soldier and he was now glad to have gone through military training in school.

‘ _I know how to use a gun. I know how to kill them…_ ’ he then thought and straightened his resolve.

Inaho realized his bloodthirst as the adrenaline pumped in his body, thrilling him to become a soldier to avenge his lost friend. His burning desire for bloodshed was much different from the cursed creatures’.

“No way…” Calm whispered and stared at Inaho in disbelief as the boy understood what had happened to his friend and classmate. “Say it’s not true, Inaho…”

‘ _There’s nothing to say…_ ’ Inaho thought and was suddenly surprised by white noise from Yuki’s communication radio.

“ _Warrant officer Kaizuka. This is Marito_ ,” he heard from his sister’s radio. The reception was weak due to them being inside a tunnel and close to jammers which disrupted the connection, but it was strong enough Inaho could hear what the man said. It was his instructor Marito, the man who had been working along with his sister at school to train him and his fellow students. He recognized that voice anywhere. “ _Do you copy?_ ”

Inaho put Yuki down on the ground to pick up the radio from her front pocket, and pushed in the button to open up communication.

“Instructor Marito,” he said and waited.

“ _Kaizuka!?_ ” Marito yelled surprised, recognizing Inaho’s voice as well. “ _Listen since there’s not much time. The cursed creatures are out hunting and a baron is after you. Their armed forces have lost interest in the ferry dock and we are gathering the last refugees. NATO ships have arrived to hold off the enemy ships. Try to get here, and don’t die on your way. I’ll wait for you until sunset tomorrow._ ”

The radio went silent and Inaho stared at it and felt its weight in his hand. They had to survive the night and hurry to the ferry dock tomorrow morning when the sun went up. The cursed creatures were able to move in sunlight as long as they were covered with their sun protection suits but Inaho and the others had a better chance of reaching the dock in broad daylight than during the night.

“Inaho?” Calm asked behind him, concerned of what he had heard from the radio.

“Apparently our chaser is a persistent cursed baron,” Inaho said and kept staring at the radio as his mind began to work with a plan of how to survive the night. “We can’t attract it to the ferry dock with refugees before the ships have embarked with them, and they won’t leave until we have arrived or if the safety of the last refugees is threatened. We have to take the baron down before we can head for the ferry dock.”

“Hey! What the hell are you talking about!? We’re of no match for a cursed baron who has insane combat experience compared to the nobles who haven’t lifted a finger in a close ranged combat for years! The baron will eat us all!” Calm yelled angrily.

“We can stay the night here,” Inaho continued without paying any mind to Calm’s outburst.

“They will get through the UV-lights if they’re dressed in their damn suits!” Calm kept yelling. His voice had gone harsh from anger, tearing at the boy’s vocal cords. It was understandable, Inaho thought, since the boy had lost a dear friend moments ago. “You saw what they did to Okisuke, didn’t you!? We will meet the same fate and be eaten if we stay here!”

“The bunkers will hold them off. They don’t have reinforcements right now to force the bunkers open,” Inaho said. “I directed us to this bunker with purpose: There are emergency tunnels connected to one of the bunkers here, leading up close to our school which has food, vehicles and weapons with ammunition for our life-fire training. We will go there once morning comes. It’s too dangerous to leave the bunkers while it’s dark outside.”

“Dude…” Calm said baffled and stared the Japanese boy.

“Let’s fight,” Inaho said and clenched his hands into fists. “We have to continue where my sister and her squad left off.” Inaho turned to look at Calm and his friends who gathered behind the Western boy. Inaho was determined. “Let’s take the baron down.”

Calm and the others stared at him in disbelieving silence but Inaho was confident. They would survive the night and they would take down the baron chasing them and finally get to safety.

‘ _I will kill him, Okisuke_ ,’ Inaho thought. ‘ _I will drain him of every drop of blood he took from you_.’


	4. The Longest Night on Earth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be aware of the meaning of the tags for this fic - specifically, for this chapter, the Explicit Death-tag. Things are turning ugly, so I guess a trigger warning is appropriate here.

Slaine woke up. The first thing his eyes saw was a dark roof of a truck. A streetlight shone outside the open door on the truck’s right, illuminating the interior of the truck with gentle rays as the night had embedded the world in a dark veil. He desperately tried to find his bearings but his lack of energy and vagueness, due to a mind filled with disorientation, kept him slumped against the floor; he was too heavy to get up – and he had no idea of why he should get up in the first place. Memories of what had happened came back to him.

Murdering human pilots…

Saving a cursed girl from the baron…

Punished by the baron…

He remembered Trillram was not happy with him after saving the cursed girl. The baron was probably still angry if Slaine knew him correctly, and a heavy sigh escaped the boy’s lips as worry began to swell in his chest of meeting Trillram again.

‘ _Where am I?_ ’ he thought and looked around.

He was alone in the truck. Or so he thought until he heard a quiet rattling breath next to him. Slaine stiffened with fear and slowly turned his head to look to his right, expecting to see something horrific. A motionless lump lay next to him and it took a while for Slaine to realize it was a human boy. He still breathed with weak breaths and stared up at the ceiling with empty eyes – waiting to die. With a jolt Slaine pushed himself up from the floor of the truck and stared at the boy. The boy was dressed in a ripped apart school uniform and his skin was covered with bite marks. He had been fed upon.

Slaine had never seen a person dying before and had not ever expected to hear the death rattle of a minor. The boy looked to be in Slaine’s age and was beyond medical help. He was certainly dying from anemia. It was eerie – frightening even to listen to the quiet death rattle of a dying boy with a throat nearly clogged with fluids. The boy’s body had emptied its bladder and bowel and the boy’s skin was unnaturally tight. It was such a surreal sight and noise, watching and hearing the life slip out of someone so slowly.

The boy was still conscious and seemed to have noticed Slaine’s presence as he turned his exhausted eyes toward the blond boy, who was dressed in an enemy uniform covered with dry blood. The sight seemed to distress the boy since his breaths went from shallow to deeper, and he accidentally breathed in some of the saliva in the back of his throat which made the boy cough exhaustedly.

“Clam down,” Slaine said in English with a voice trembling from fear and grief to see a boy his own age – a boy dressed in a school uniform – slowly die in front of him. “I’m not one of them. I’m human,” Slaine continued and placed a hand on the boy’s cold and naked shoulder. “I’m warm, see? Please don’t be afraid…”

Confusion washed over the other boy’s face. He stared at Slaine and seemed to want to say something, but he was too weak to swallow down the fluid in his throat in the position he was in. Gently and carefully Slaine got onto his knees and shuffled closer to the boy, pulled him up to have the boy rest his head against Slaine’s thighs to make it slightly more comfortable for him.

‘ _This is the least I can do…_ ’ Slaine thought as he trembled from mental shock.

The dehydrated boy must have been lying there for a while as he waited to die, and he had been forced to listen to his own death rattle and feel how he slowly grew cold. It had to hurt to breathe with a dry throat like that, and it must have been nightmarish to lie there all alone and wait for death. Slaine looked around in the truck to see if he could find a bottle of water, and saw a bag in a corner of the truck. It was his bag – the bag he had packed for this mission. Trillram must have taken the bag with him from the aircraft, knowing it contained equipment his blood sacrifice needed to survive.

Slaine reached for it and rummaged around to find the bottles with water, which he had put in the bag in order to keep his body hydrated and raise his blood volume up whenever Trillram drained him. Slaine removed the glove of his left hand, poured some of the precious water on his fingers to wash them off, and then gently wetted the boy’s pale and broken lips by slowly dabbing water onto them with his fingertips.

“Wh…” he heard the human boy say with broken English, finally being able to speak now that his head was slightly raised from the floor, allowing him to swallow down the gathered fluids in his throat. “Why … you … with…?”

‘ _You’re so brave to converse in a situation like this…_ ’ Slaine thought as his eyes became blurry from the tears welling up.

“Why I’m with the vampires?” the blond boy asked with a quiet and trembling breath as a try to aid the boy with what he wanted to ask him. He let a couple of water drops fall into the boy’s mouth now that he had managed to swallow down the fluids at the back of his throat. The boy seemed thirsty and swallowed the water greedily.

“Yes…” the human boy answered weakly once Slaine made a break in feeding him water, and he then finally began to cry.

He was so afraid of watching the boy die and yet he selfishly could not wait for him to take the last breath so the horror of seeing a human pass away could be over. Slaine had been spared from such a horrific experience during the time of truce between humans and cursed creatures, and now when he sat there in the abandoned vehicle he was forced to handle the situation by himself. He found relief from Trillram not being there as the cursed baron was probably out hunting for more victims, but he wished for someone to be there to support him with assisting the dying boy.

‘ _What do I do?_ ’ Slaine thought and decided to answer the boy’s questions with hope of his company being of some kind of comfort in the boy’s dying moment.

“To prevent them from attacking innocent like you by offering my blood instead. I’m a blood sacrifice…” Slaine said and dried his tears. “I failed. I’m sorry…”

The dying boy stared at him for a while, gasping with wheezing breaths to keep himself alive for a little while longer.

‘ _Please… Fall asleep_ ,’ Slaine prayed selfishly as he did not know what to do to save him.

“Name…?” the boy asked weakly, and Slaine dried his tears away again with the sleeve to his blood covered uniform.

‘ _You ask such meaningless things_ ,’ Slaine thought and tried to smile as he introduced himself:

“Slaine Troyard…” the blond boy answered. “I come from northern Europe. What about you?”

Slaine thought it would be comforting to make the boy think of something else than death, even if it could not get any more palpable than it already was, and so he decided to keep the conversation alive in his desperate try to support the boy until the end.

“O… kisu … ke…” the boy whispered and stared at Slaine with emptying eyes. “From … here…”

“Nice to meet you, Okisuke from Shinawara,” Slaine said as tears gathered in his eyes again, obscuring his vision of the boy’s face. “I’m sorry we invaded your home. It was pretty from the air when I flew here.”

“Yeah…” the boy named Okisuke said and made a last effort to smile, but his face ended up warped with a ghostly calm. None of his muscles moved properly and his face was smiling with a barely visible smile, which was devoid of anything called emotion. “Will I … become…?”

The boy closed his eyes and took a deep raspy breath, clearly exhausting himself by talking.

“To turn and become one of them?” Slaine hurried to ask in order to stop the boy from speaking. “If they fed you their blood you will. Did they do that?”

“No…” the boy gasped voicelessly. His whisper sounded as if his soul – if a human had one – was escaping him. It was slowly pouring out of him as though the boy was gradually becoming a restless ghost of his former living self, ready to haunt the grounds at where he died.

“Then you won’t come back as one of them,” Slaine assured him and dried his tears again. “Rest easy. You will stay human even once you fall asleep.”

“Wh… What … weather is … it?” Okisuke then asked, and Slaine stared at him with shock.

“W-what?” he asked confused. ‘ _Why would you want to know about the weather? You’re dying!_ ’

Slaine never got the chance to understand, as the boy fell unconscious. Slaine stared at him for a while, wondering if the boy would soon open his eyes or say something – but Okisuke from Shinawara stayed silent. Slaine waited while crying from the earthshattering moment. It was overwhelming him with grief as he understood how small and delicate a living being was. Life was terrifyingly fragile and once it was slipping away there was nothing stopping it from doing so.

‘ _Death is not a monster which takes the life of living beings away. It is the choice life makes when it decides to leave_ ,’ the boy thought as he watched the dying boy who rested his head in Slaine’s lap. ‘ _We have no control over it. It decides and we have no choice but to obey_.’

Life did not listen to someone else’s cries. It was ugly and selfish, doing whatever it wanted without respect to anyone – and yet everyone wanted it to the point where they built up legends about immortality and holy grails.

‘ _Do I want it?_ ’ Slaine dangerously thought. ‘ _No one will grieve for me. Does that mean I should follow this boy?_ ’

Then again, the shock of how pathetic a person looked while gasping for their last breath terrified him. There was nothing honorable or beautiful about dying. All it was, was suffocating, surreal and eerie. All Slaine could think about was an isolated dark room waiting for Okisuke, where the boy would stay for all eternity with nothing but emptiness and regret to accompany him.

‘ _I don’t want that!_ ’

The fear of not have done enough in life was what kept Slaine alive. If it was a legit reason or not, he did not know. Every reason should have morally been a reason enough to let someone live, but he hesitated if he was allowed to apply that moral to his own life. Slaine had not had any value ever since his father abandoned him for his work to find a cure for the curse, and Slaine had become lonelier once his father had passed away. No one had confirmed to him he was allowed to have the same right to live as everyone else.

‘ _Except Asseylum…_ ’

Slaine wondered if Asseylum had suffered before her death the way Okisuke did now, and he wondered if she was in a dark room regretting everything she had not had time to do before she died. Slaine prayed to whatever god that was listening she had gotten a merciful and instant death, not resembling the moment the boy had now who rested his head in Slaine’s lap.

‘ _Please, do not regret anything in your dark room, my princess_ ,’ Slaine thought and whimpered. He dried his cheeks and runny nose with the sleeve to his uniform. ‘ _You did everything you could. I wish I was strong enough to carry your dreams for you_.’

Slaine waited for something that felt like an infinity. Death took a great while and the human body was persistent even in the destroyed state Okisuke was in. The blond boy silently cried and waited. At times Slaine thought the boy had finally died and he felt relief for death to finally be over. Then the body took another breath and kept breathing for a short while, before the body went silent once again only to trick Slaine into believing the boy had died. Then the body continued breathing once more.

“End it already…” Slaine whispered while trembling. He was unsure of who he talked to, if it was the boy or life itself. “Don’t drag it out… It’s too painful to watch.”

Then finally… A final breath, much different from the others, slipped out of the boy’s mouth. It emptied the body of air and the dead boy went silent and unmoving. Slaine stared at him for a while, surprised and shocked of the quiet sound a body made in its last moment. The boy’s mouth was wide open in a silent scream and his eyes were not completely closed; the unanimated eyes peeked from behind the nearly closed eyelids. Life had finally let go; Okisuke was gone and all that remained was a ghastly shell resting its head heavily in Slaine’s lap.

‘ _Is this how ugly death is?_ ’ Slaine thought and did not know what to do now. Should he leave the boy’s body in the truck to let it decay? Should he burry him somewhere? ‘ _I don’t know what to do!_ ’ he thought and let out a loud whimper, and whispered:

“Godspeed, Okisuke from Shinawara…”

“He finally died?” the familiar voice of the devilish baron said, and Slaine threw his gaze up at Trillram who stood in the truck’s open door, leaning against the steel doorframe. Slaine had not noticed his presence and the boy released a frightened yelp and backed away from the cursed creature, who stared at Slaine with eyes gleaming from the streetlight outside.

‘ _He killed Okisuke!_ ’ Slaine thought terrified.

“Afraid are we, blood sacrifice?” Trillram asked with an intimidating chuckle. “It was just a worthless boy who tried to kill us. I took care of him and made him useful for a little while. The soldiers are fed and out hunting while I finish my business here, but I on the other hand…”

Trillram reached into the vehicle to take a hold of Slaine’s ankles, and the boy quickly pushed himself against the wall behind him and pulled his knees up to prevent the cursed baron to grab him around his boots.

“No! Stay away!” Slaine yelled and stared at Trillram in utter horror. He feared to end up as the boy next to him; dead and cold.

Trillram arched an eyebrow and stared at him with a wry expression of boredom.

“Really? You watch one human die up close and you end up being petrified of me?” Trillram asked and sighed. “I tasted his blood but it was no way near the taste of yours. I gave him to the soldiers instead. I need yours now and I am fairly tempted to taste it now that you are this scared; it must be delicious with all the adrenaline, so give it.”

The cursed creature’s demand was ringing in Slaine’s ears, but all he could do was to stare at him and hope Trillram would stay away from him. In the back of his mind he knew the cursed baron would take him anyway and demand his blood, but Slaine could not help but to wish for mercy now that he was frozen from fear.

‘ _He’ll kill me! Just like Okisuke!_ ’ he thought and trembled like a leaf in a cold autumn breeze. ‘ _I don’t want to die! Don’t kill me!_ ’

Trillram clicked his tongue and took a hold of the edges of the doorframe. With a graceful movement he entered the small truck and Slaine watched the cursed creature crawl closer on all four. The sounds the creature made with his hands and knees against the cold iron floor echoed in Slaine’s ears and the terrified human boy dared not to blink. Trillram crawled over the other boy’s dead body and closed in on Slaine with a nasty sneer on his lips. The blond boy’s trembles grew into visible quivers and he pushed his back against the body of the truck. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he watched Trillram bare the needlelike fangs.

“Come now,” Trillram purred with eyes of a hunter glued to Slaine’s. “Sacrifice your delicious blood like you were ordered to.”

“N-no…” Slaine managed to say and slowly slid down the wall behind him to escape from the cursed baron’s teeth when Trillram leaned closer to him. Slaine hoped desperately he would be able to slip out of the truck from beneath the creature and run, despite he knew it was useless to even try. “P-please don’t…”

“Oh, do not worry, human,” Trillram said amused with a singsong voice. “I still have the need of your blood since you let that pesky little girl run away from me. I will let you live a little while longer.”

Slaine’s back hit the floor of the truck and he stared at Trillram’s eerie smile. The cursed creature hovered above him, supported against his arms and knees. Slaine tried to hook his boot’s heel to the door opening and pull himself out from beneath Trillram toward the world outside of the truck, but before he had the time to do anything to advance toward that plan Trillram pushed a knee against Slaine’s stomach and added weight to it. Slaine was nailed against the floor.

“Ah!”

It hurt, as though his organs were crushed by the creature’s weight.

“I find it amusing how you humans try to escape in every imaginative way thinkable despite you knowing it is completely in vain. Your darkest hour gives birth to your creativity to stay alive with any means possible. It is so, so pathetic and amusing,” Trillram grinned and lowered himself toward Slaine’s face.

A cold finger pulled down the high burgundy collar of the boy’s uniform. With trembling hands Slaine covered his neck to save himself from the cursed creature’s bite, but Trillram sighed with annoyance and grabbed a hold of his wrists. He bent Slaine’s arms away from the boy’s neck and pushed them against the truck’s floor with no effort.

“NO!” the human boy howled pitifully.

“Stop being so pathetic!” Trillram yelled frustrated and slammed his hands against the floor, right next to Slaine’s ears. The boy yelped from the shock from the impact. “Do you want to play tag? Is that it!?”

“L-let me go!” Slaine yelled and tried to thrash around, but he was hopelessly pinned down by the baron.

“Fine then,” Trillram sighed and let go of Slaine to climb out of the vehicle. Slaine stared at him with bewilderment while trembling. “Then run and see how far you get before I catch you,” Trillram said, not the slightest amused. “Go on. Run, blood sacrifice,” he urged as Slaine did not move. “RUN!”

With that forceful encouragement, Slaine hurried out of the truck and began to run. He was so terrified he could not think about anything but simply running away. The wind tugged at his hair and uniform as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, without any goal in mind. The air was chilling now that the sun had set, or maybe it was because of the fear coursing through the boys mind? Slaine saw a tunnel up ahead with pink florescent lights and a truck stood parked further inside with humans moving about in the tunnel. He recognized the lights as strong UV-lights which protected the humans inside the tunnel from the UV-sensitive creatures hunting them. If he only could get in there…

“I told you there is no use in running from me,” Trillram said next to him, running alongside of him with no visible effort.

Slaine was about to scream when Trillram grabbed him with a cold hand over his lips and an arm around his waist, stopping him from running toward the tunnel. Slaine froze and stared at the tunnel, which would have offered him salvation. He was only about 60 meters away from it.

“Calm down. Soon you shall be nothing but obedient,” Trillram said quietly into Slaine’s ear and pushed Slaine's uniform collar down with the corner of his lips as he lowered his head to pierce Slaine’s neck with his needlelike fangs.

Slaine stared at the humans in the tunnel. How he wished to be among them in safety.

Trillram’s breath brushed against his neck and the hairs on Slaine’s skin stood on end. Then the cursed creature pushed his head aside, forcing Slaine to expose his neck for him, and the familiar pain from fangs piercing through his skin attacked the boy’s nerves. Slaine released a muffled cry before he closed his eyes. The poison course through him before Trillram began to drink his blood and slowly eased the horror and feelings of being violated by someone else. He listened to the creature’s greedy gulps and felt his mind fade into nothing but pleasant obedience. The fear disappeared.

†††

“Inaho…” Nina said silently, and Inaho turned his attention to her. He had been trying to open the bunker door, which had gotten stuck in its frame. “Come look at this…”

Inaho walked over to the girl and looked out through the tunnel’s opening. Nina lowered the binoculars from her eyes and held it to him. Her face was ghostly pale.

“It’s dark but you don’t have to see in order to understand what is going on,” she said with a trembling breath.

Inaho looked through the binoculars and saw a cursed baron in his grey uniform hold a blond haired boy who was dressed in a blood covered uniform of a soldier from Vers. The boy had been crying and his hair was tousled from violence. He had probably been viciously treated; the boy’s both physical and emotional appearance was a complete mess; it was shown clearly on his face. The cursed baron was drinking the soldier’s blood with greedy gulps and while Inaho watched the gruesome scene play out before him, he suddenly recognized the soldier as the one who had been lying in the enemy truck when Okisuke had been cruelly snatched away.

‘ _He wasn’t a cursed creature. He’s human…_ ’ the brunet thought with surprise and unexpectedly felt that the boy should be with them instead in the bunker, where the cursed baron could not feed on him any longer. ‘ _But we don’t have the means to save him_ ,’ he thought with frustration.

“I didn’t know Vers had humans in their army…” Nina said and shook her head. “Poor boy! I saw him come running and then he was caught by the monster.”

“Whatever the reason for him to be dressed in their uniform is, there’s nothing we can do for him now,” Inaho said and felt the sudden anger from before flare up again while watching the painful scene take form in the darkness. “We have to prioritize ourselves,” he said and lowered the binoculars, only to see the boy in the creature’s arms fall limply to the ground. The cursed baron, who had attacked Okisuke, raised his predator eyes toward them in the tunnel. “We need to hurry. He has gained power from the blood,” the brunet said concerned.

‘ _A blood sacrifice?_ ’ Inaho thought before he turned his back toward the entrance of the tunnel.

Inaho hurried to the bunker door to help Calm and Inko force it open. Dr. Yagarai was taking care of Yuki, who still lay unconscious on the ground, and tended to anyone who was injured with mental or physical wounds alike, despite him being a psychologist.

“Can’t we just pull it open with the truck?” Calm asked with strained breaths as he pulled at the rope they had tied to the handle on the door.

“It might damage the hinges,” Inaho reminded him as he helped his friends pull. “Then nothing will protect us.”

“Damn it! Open up already!” Inko yelled and braced herself with her feet against the wall and pulled on the bunker door. Suddenly the door opened with a loud screech and the trio fell onto their behind on the ground as the surprise had taken them off guard.

“We did it!” Calm said with victory and hurried inside to start the rundown ventilation before they all could step inside. “This bunker has not been cared for, for a while,” he complained.

They waited for a minute before it was safe to get inside. Sealed up areas had the danger of not containing enough oxygen when they had been sealed for a long time, like the bunker they had found. Each bunker had a ventilation mechanism which had to be started manually. Once it had run for a minute it was considered safe for entrance.

“Come on! Let’s go!” Calm yelled to the refugees, who had gathered around the evacuation truck. “Get into the bunker!”

“Hurry!” Inaho added and threw a glance to the entrance of the tunnel. To his horror the cursed baron stood right outside the UV-barrier, staring at them with eyes wide from hunting instincts raging in his body.

Nina screamed at seeing the cursed creature and that started a panic among the refugees. Everyone wanted to run into the bunker as quickly as possible and chaos broke out when people tried to squeeze through the narrow bunker door at the same time.

“Calm down, everybody! All of you will get in!” Calm yelled desperately and tried to keep the people from pushing themselves in through the door opening at the same time. “Please! Calm down!”

“Take care of the refugees,” Inaho said to his friends and hurried over to the evacuation truck; he had to get Yuki’s gun quickly, which he remembered lay on the floor of the space for the gunman, where his sister had dropped it.

As he hurried toward the truck he saw the frightened expressions of the two foreign girls he had picked up, but could not stop to tend to them now. Inko was quick to guide them to the bunker and within moments they slipped through the bunker door. The mysterious girls were safe for now.

“Blood sacrifice!” he heard the baron yell from the other side of the barrier with a beckoning voice filled with excitement. “Come over here!” The boy Inaho and Nina had seen in the cursed baron’s arms walked over to the creature with a vacant expression, still affected by the vampire’s poison. “Step through the barrier and shoot the lights,” the cursed baron then said and sneered at the humans inside the tunnel after slapping a gun into the boy’s hand.

“Yes sir…” the blond boy mumbled and Inaho was grabbed by an urgent need to raise his gun and shoot the human Versian soldier before he had damaged the UV-lights.

“STOP RIGHT THERE!” Inaho yelled and raised the gun the moment he picked it up from the floor of the truck.

The human boy stopped, compelled by Inaho’s order as the cursed baron’s venom made him obedient.

“Aim at the lights and shoot them!” the cursed baron urged with a sneer, looking more amused than before. The human boy began to move again and stepped through the UV-barrier. Inaho saw the boy’s empty eyes turn toward the pink fluorescent lights and raised the gun.

The creature was playing with them. Inaho knew the cursed baron could walk through the UV-barrier if he covered himself with something to protect him from the lights. ‘ _I will stall you as much as I can by playing your game_ ,’ the brunet thought and felt a bead of sweat roll down his temple despite the air being chilling.

“KILL YOURSELF!” Inaho yelled and felt a troubling fright well up inside him.

If the human boy would destroy the lights the cursed baron would get into the tunnel without anything to stop him – even if the baron could cloak himself and run through the light barrier anyway. Inaho was not good enough to face him alone and so he had to stall the baron as much as he possibly could, lowering himself to the level the baron wanted him to be. No one in the tunnel was prepared to fight against a powerful cursed creature who had just recently charged itself up with human blood, which increased its superhuman abilities.

Inaho watched the human boy comply with his desperate order and turn the gun toward his own head.

‘ _I’m sorry, but you will kill us all!_ ’ Inaho thought and took an aim at the baron.

The cursed creature laughed from amusement. Inaho wanted to pull the trigger, but there was only four bullets left in the magazine – not nearly enough to fight a cursed baron. It would not make any difference if he pulled the trigger or not in a fight, and so he decided to save the bullets if he could.

“Shoot the lights!” the creature laughed and the human boy obliged by aiming at one of the lights.

“Shoot yourself!” Inaho yelled back and the human boy was about to obey by lowering the gun once more, but was interrupted by an immediate order:

“PULL THE TRIGGER!” the creature yelled and the boy did as told. A bang echoed in the tunnel and the sound bounced around violently, attacking Inaho’s ears with sharp pitches which stabbed mercilessly in his eardrums.

A UV-light went black and a passages was opened for the baron to pass through. Inaho did not wait to watch the cursed baron enter the tunnel and instead began to run toward the bunker.

“HURRY!” he yelled to Dr. Yagarai, who was the last one besides Inko and Calm to enter the bunker, with Yuki in his arms.

The doctor hurried inside and Inko and Calm nearly stumbled after him as horror gripped them after seeing something behind Inaho. Inaho managed to get into the bunker and began to pull the door shut when someone grabbed it from the other side and pulled it wide open with incredible strength. The creature stared at the brunet with wide eyes colored by the joy of an exciting hunt. Inaho raised the gun toward the cursed baron and did not hesitate to pull the trigger. A shot echoed in the bunker and tunnel, and the creature fell backwards with a loud animalistic scream. The baron covered his face with his hands after the bullet had gone in through his cheek and out from the creature’s neck. A sizzling noise erupted from the wound and Inaho hurried to close the door and lock it with the great wheel, turning it fast to lock the arms in place against the door frame. He breathed out a deep breath and leaned against the door with his body trembling from adrenaline as he was done.

‘ _That was a close call_ ,’ he thought with a scattered mind.

“You did it, Inaho! You shot him!” Inko yelled with a relieved smile, but her voice shook as well.

‘ _We could have died_ ,’ Inaho thought and sighed heavily to calm himself down. ‘ _I should have kept shooting until he’s wounded enough to die…_ ’

He turned toward his friends.

“The bullet went straight through him. His wound will heal within moments, but we are safe in here,” the brunet said and looked around at the frightened refugees.

He saw the two foreign girls cower in a corner, holding each other with frightened looks on their faces from not knowing what was going on. Despite they looked frightened Inaho noticed something peculiar about them. Their skin was not only pale. It was translucent.

‘ _Who are you?_ ’ he thought but was interrupted by a loud bang from outside the bunker door.

Screams were heard from the people hiding from the creature, and Inaho and his friends began their work of calming them down the way they had been taught during their classes of Psychology Preparedness for Disaster in school – without getting any time to grieve for their lost friend Okisuke Mikuni.

†††

Slaine shook his head as his mind was waking up from the daze he recognized came from Trillram’s poison. He stumbled forward as he felt lightheaded from blood loss and dropped something from his hand. Hazily he looked at the object and saw that it was a gun. Slaine remembered why he had been holding the gun; he had been ordered to shoot himself by one of the humans, and he felt nausea well up in his throat. As his mind was clearing up, he heard a loud metallic bang from inside the tunnel. Trillram was attacking the old steel door, trying to beat himself through it.

‘ _I could have died if I only had pulled the trigger!_ ’ he thought and covered his lips with a hand to stop himself from vomiting. He leaned face against the tunnel wall and gasped through his nose. The images of the dying boy came into mind. The thought of Slaine becoming a lifeless corpse, just like the boy, flashed through his mind. ‘ _Cold… Pale lips… Death rattle…_ ’ he thought and suddenly felt something push in his throat. He leaned down as he supported himself against the wall, and vomited from the horrors he had experienced that night. ‘ _I can’t do this!_ ’

Slaine’s knees shook beneath him from the body getting into shock as he vomited a second time. Tears welled up in his eyes and he gasped for breath while supporting his exhausted body against the wall with his arms. He listened to his own breaths. They were not rattling. They were smooth as they should be on a living creature. He was not dead yet. He did notice, however, he was out of breath, his heart was racing and he felt faint and weakness.

‘ _Anemia…_ ’ he thought and sighed to catch his breath. Slaine was unsure of how anemic he was, but he found comfort from the symptoms not being too severe yet. He wondered if the intermittent hypoxic training was saving him right now.

“You damn humans!” Trillram yelled loud enough his voice echoed in the tunnel. “How dare you shoot me in my face!? I will get you and rip you to shreds!”

Slaine looked up at the cursed creature who stopped beating at the door once he had understood it was of no use. The door was too stubborn and strong for him. Instead Trillram directed his eyes toward Slaine. The baron’s eyes burned with anger and insanity, and an ugly wound sizzled on his cheek, burning him from the inside.

‘ _Silver bullet_ …’ Slaine thought. The humans must have shot him with a silver bullet, but since Trillram was still strong and alive the bullet had not gotten stuck inside his body to burn away at him like acid.

Trillram marched toward Slaine with the insane eyes of an angry cursed creature, and the blond boy knew what the cursed baron was about to do. Slaine took a couple of steps back but stopped as he remembered there was nothing he could do. Instead he let out a pathetic whimper and leaned his back against the wall and waited – defeated. Tears welled up in his eyes once again. Even if he tried to run, Trillram would catch him within a couple of heartbeats.

Trillram pushed him against the concrete wall with brutal force despite Slaine did no resistance, and covered the boy’s body with his, only to instantly puncture his neck once again with the cursed fangs. The human boy let out a desperate cry from the pain of his now sore neck.

“Trillram…” Slaine whispered before his mind got once again deluded by the cursed creature’s venom.

‘ _Stop…!_ ’

The cursed creature let go of him after a couple of gulps and Slaine’s legs were about to give way beneath him. Trillram caught him and dragged him along toward the truck the humans had fled in. Slaine obeyed and followed him absentmindedly, not caring nor understanding what was going on while his mind was deluded. He was shoved into the vehicle and the boy fell onto the floor where he lay waiting. Trillram disappeared from the door opening and a couple of minutes later – as Slaine’s mind woke up from the poison – Trillram had already come back with the bag from the truck outside the tunnel. Slaine heard water squelch inside the bag.

“I have to sleep in order to heal,” the cursed baron said coldly and threw the bag onto the vehicle floor. “You will keep me warm. Drink.”

Slaine was freezing from blood loss and wondered how he would be able to serve as a warmer, but since Trillram looked infuriated he dared not to speak and decided to do as he was told. The wound on the cursed creature’s face must have hurt a lot for Trillram to be able to even consider going to sleep in a situation like this. Since he dared not to do anything else but listen to the baron’s command, Slaine got up from the floor and shuffled over to the bag. With trembling hands the bag was opened, and Slaine pulled out one of the bottles with water.

“Take supplements. I will need you alive for a while longer, until the human who did this to me is killed,” the devilish baron growled behind him, and Slaine jerked from the threatening voice.

“Y-yes sir…” he mumbled and searched for the supplements he had taken with him. He also found the monitors and felt the need to test his hemoglobin levels to find out how low they were.

He took the monitor and lancet to prepare them both. His hands shook as he did so and once he punctured the tip of his finger and no red blood welled up from the small would, he felt his heart skip a beat from realizing he was dehydrated. By squeezing the finger he forced a blood drop out of the puncture would, and let it fall onto the strip at the bottom of the monitor. A couple of seconds passed and then the monitor beeped and showed a number.

“How low?” Trillram asked behind him.

“98…” Slaine whispered. He felt faint and was out of breath. His heart hammered with protesting beats and his ears were whirring quietly. It was no wonder, the boy thought. His normal level was around 170, and now he was suffocating from the inside since his cells did not get enough oxygen due to the low red blood cell count. “If you drink more … I might drop low enough to die…”

“And why would I care about what happens to you!?” the demon behind him yelled and slammed his fist into the thick hull of the truck. The entire vehicle shook and Slaine cowered where he sat on the floor, and held his breath. “You are nothing but a blood sacrifice, and your fate is to die by my fangs, human! As long as you are above 50 it is good enough for me!”

Slaine released his breath in a silent cry and, with shaking hands, reached for the bottle of water.

“Y-yes sir…” he whispered while tears flowed down his cheeks again.

‘ _I’m so pathetic… I’m not good enough for anything but dying…_ ’

He took supplements and washed them down with water, hoping he would be able to help his body raise the fluid levels just enough to get rid of the symptoms. After drinking until he felt sick, he lowered the bottle from his lips and hung his head as he hoped the blood volume would increase. He had to keep drinking a lot of water throughout the next day and in the morning he needed something to eat.

“Get here, blood sacrifice!” the cursed creature yelled impatiently and Slaine obeyed. While Slaine had been tending to his health, the cursed creature had found a storage compartment in the truck, filled with military blankets, and had made a small nest in the corner of the truck. “The humans will move tomorrow morning. Wake me up if they show any signs of escaping,” Trillram continued and wrapped two blankets around his back and held out his arms for Slaine.

“Yes sir,” Slaine answered and crawled closer and placed himself in Trillram’s arms.

The cursed creature’s arms wrapped around him with the blankets, and sent a chill down Slaine’s spine as the coldness of the baron’s arms and body made him shiver.

“I will notice if you try to run,” Trillram hissed.

“Yes sir,” Slaine mumbled with a whisper.

“I will notice if you try to hurt me.”

“Y-yes sir…”

Slaine’s warmth flowed into the creature, keeping it warm. The cursed baron quickly fell asleep and stopped breathing as he became the corpse he in fact was, and Slaine stared absentmindedly at empty air while he pondered on what to spend his time on. Sleep was impossible he figured, and sighed as the cold from outside the blankets threatened to crawl into their soft fortress.

Thoughts of self-loathing attacked his mind. He despised his cowardliness. He had no honor or pride, and no use for being alive. He was nothing but at tool for Trillram and there was nothing comforting in the cold embrace he was in. Instead the creature’s coldness pulled the warmth from Slaine with great greed, keeping the undead body warm, enough for the body to not be stiff in the morning, while the boy was slightly freezing.

Normally the creatures used heat blankets to keep themselves warm during sleep, but once there was no such luxury a human body was considered good enough. Trillram had probably not expected to be attacked and wounded the way he had been. Even if it was only a wound on a strong creature like a vampire, it must have hurt a lot. Slaine dared to peek up at the sizzling wound on the sleeping creature’s face. A burning smell emitted from it along with weak trails of smoke. It would take hours to heal a wound formed by a silver bullet.

‘ _I really can’t do anything?_ ’ he thought as his mind began to spin with thought, while he stared at Trillram’s sleeping face close to his. ‘ _I have to do something or I’ll die!_ ’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think you all have figured it out by now that Slaine's role in this fic is much more "in the game" than in the anime, while Inaho is reacting to his emotions more vividly in thought. There are reasons for all this, so I'm sorry if I'm poking and mixing with characters' routes and events, and such, a little like this. I still hope the characters are in character in a sense; that you can relate to their original versions, as well as somehow hint the original story line of the anime. This'll probably be a looooong series, so the pace will be slow enough to reveal the characters' development thoroughly (since this is an experiment of mine).


	5. The Children's Echelon 1

Inaho’s phone announced it was 05:00 in the morning. The soft alarm woke him up and he opened his burgundy eyes to turn it off. The night had been tough. Loud explosions had been heard from outside the bunker around the city, and the earth had erupted into an earth shake from the blasts. Bombs had been falling and the evacuees had been terrified of not knowing what was to happen to them. Now, the dimly lit bunker was deathly quiet and Inaho let his gaze sweep through it.

The people – who finally had managed to fall asleep once the bombings had stopped – were still asleep; some faintly snoozing while others were sleeping heavily from exhaustion. Inko was sleeping next to Nina on one of the folding beds and Calm was curled up in a corner next to them. The foreign girls Inaho had picked up yesterday were asleep on another bed – the older of them holding the younger tightly as if they sought out each other’s body heat. They still wore their hoods to cover their faces – and so did the red haired girl who Yuki had saved, who was wide awake. She was sitting on the ground between two other evacuees, and stared at the foreign girls without blinking.

“Did you sleep well?” Inaho asked her quietly and pushed his stiff body up from his seat next to the bunker door, where he had slept throughout the night after a failed attempt to guard the door; he had been too exhausted to stay awake.

The girl looked up at him in a flash, still not blinking, and stared at him with watchful eyes. She kept track of his every move and Inaho figured she must have lost trust in anything that moved after the traumatic event the day earlier. To be chased by cursed creatures, and facing the distress from hearing bombs falling, was nothing but horrifying and terrorizing combined and would leave most people traumatized. The cursed creatures were coldblooded, not only in the literal way; war and death would always follow in their wake.

“I take that as a no,” Inaho said and walked over to Yuki, who lay on her own bed among the rest of the evacuees. He tried to wake her up but she was still knocked out.

A worry washed over him, as if something unpleasant tugged at Inaho’s heart seeing her like that. He felt bad for having made a decision that resulted in her being knocked out, but at that moment there had been no way to save the evacuees and his sister. If it had been a normal hit to the head she would have woken up hours ago, and since she was still unconscious Inaho worried she might have gotten a greater damage than what was considered light enough to manage without professional care.

‘ _I’m sorry. I didn’t have a choice, Yuki-nee…_ ’ he thought and brushed her bangs out of her eyes. ‘ _Please, wake up_.’

Yuki had been a rescuer by keeping Inaho safe as they had grown up in the orphanage after their parents had died before Nightfall had ended. Without any experience and knowledge on how to cook and what to do when taking care of an eight year old boy, the thirteen year old Yuki had still tried her best. Even if she had failed in many ways, her dedication and sincerity had given Inaho great comfort and sense of security when growing up. Her cooking had been horrible though, which had left Inaho no choice but to study recipes at the nearby library from magazines directed toward the housewife population. They had been growing up supporting each other, but now, Yuki was the one who supplied greater support than Inaho did, by building herself a career in the military in order to put food on their table.

‘ _You try too hard to support me; your work almost killed you last night_ ,’ Inaho thought and frowned as he caressed his sister’s cheek. To become a UN soldier was probably the worst idea she had come up with, Inaho thought. ‘ _You shouldn’t risk your life for me without letting me do the same for you_.’

“Inaho?” he heard Calm’s slumbering voice from the corner where he had been sleeping. Inaho looked up at him. “What time is it?”

“It’s five in the morning,” the brunet answered silently to not wake the others up from their much needed sleep.

Calm rubbed his neck a couple of times and yawned. The boy looked exhausted and his eyes were bloodshot, as if he had been crying. Inaho wondered if it was because of Okisuke, but decided not to ask. They all had the need to grieve for their lost friend, and if Calm had taken a moment to grieve during the night then Inaho was happy for him.

“So what do we do now?” Calm asked quietly and got up from his spot in the corner. He walked up to Inaho and Yuki, and looked at the unconscious woman for a little while. “How is she?”

“She is hopefully fine,” Inaho answered emotionlessly despite his worry thrashing around inside his mind. “As of what we should do, we should get the evacuees over to our school now that the sun will rise.”

“Should I wake them up?” Calm asked and Inaho nodded.

“Do so quietly, and let everyone know they should stay as silent as possible. I would have liked for them to sleep a little while longer but I think it is best to get moving. Have Inko and Nina show them the way. I want you to stay with me,” the brown haired boy said.

As Calm began to wake up the people with a gentle tone to his voice, Inaho walked over to the bunker door and pushed his ear against it in an attempt to listen if something was going on, on the other side. The door proved to be too thick for a human to be able to tell if anyone moved or spoke on the other side.

Inko and Nina were quick to wake up and get to work. They instructed the evacuees to gather up their belongings – if they had any – and disappeared through the door on the other end of the bunker, which would lead them into a passage and toward Shinawara High School.

“So what do you need me for?” Calm asked once the last refugee had disappeared through the door. The boy locked it by turning the wheel to the locking mechanism after Inaho ordered him to.

Inaho checked the gun to be sure of how many bullets there were and counted them to three. One of the four had been used last night when he had shot the cursed baron. One bullet had not been nearly enough to kill the cursed creature and three would not make a difference either. Inaho knew he needed at least two entire clips with silver bullets and have all of them hit the creature in order to at least cripple it.

‘ _He has a blood sacrifice with him; the baron is everything but weak…_ ’ the brunet thought troubled. ‘ _He is the fastest and strongest he can be with a proper blood sacrifice at his side_.’

“I will sneak out to see if the truck is still there,” the brunet answered. “I want you to be prepared to close the door if we would be attacked.”

Calm’s already pale face went even paler and his eyes widened.

“Are you crazy!?” the boy exclaimed and Inaho pushed a hand over Calm’s mouth to keep him quiet.

“Don’t raise your voice,” the brunet said with a whisper. “If the creature is still out there it might hear you. You know they have superhuman hearing.”

Calm nodded and Inaho released his lips.

“But you can’t go out there,” the westerner continued, this time with a whisper as well. “If he’s out there guarding the door, he will jump you the moment you step out through it. Leave the truck, man.”

“We might need it,” Inaho said. “There’s only one armored training truck at school. We need to separate the baron from the evacuees. We need two armored vehicles.”

Calm stared at the brunet for a short while and then sighed and nodded. The boy was quick to give in and Inaho knew it was because he trusted in Inaho’s ability to figure out a plan on how to tackle a problem like the one they were in now. After a silent understanding was exchanged between them they both walked over to the door. Quietly they began turning the wheel on the door and they both were grateful the locking mechanism was still properly greased. It did not make a sound except a weak metallic noise when the parts of the locking mechanism bumped into each other as it had been completely opened. Carefully they pushed on the door and it seemed to open without any resistance, which was surprising considering how they had been forced to pull at it last night in order to open it. Inaho figured the door had gotten freed from whatever had kept it stuck once they managed to pull it open.

Inaho looked at Calm once the door opening was wide enough Inaho could step through it. They nodded to each other and Inaho looked out into the tunnel. Nothing moved or made a sound outside. Then he sneaked out on light feet with the gun ready in case he had to protect himself. The truck became visible the moment he stepped inside the tunnel. The sun was just about to rise from behind the horizon and eerie shadows from the trees and structures outside the opening danced on the tunnel floor. The air was cold just like during any regular autumn morning, and the air was moist.

Silently he worked his way closer toward the truck and reached it. Carefully he peeked in through the open door. His breath was caught in his throat as he saw the cursed baron asleep in the truck, and Inaho managed to stop himself from reacting with impulse and begin running. Then he saw him… In the baron’s arms was a boy – the human boy Inaho recognized from last night; the one who had shot the UV-light; the one who was covered with someone else’s blood. The boy was breathing weakly, lay limp against the vampire, and had a sickly paleness on his face as if he were on the verge of death. He had bags under his eyes with heavy dark circles, and his blond hair was even more tousled from violence now than it had been last night. Inaho had never seen someone so exhausted even in their sleep.

‘ _The blood sacrifice…! He survived?_ ’ Inaho thought surprised and got a sudden impulse to aim the gun toward the cursed creature in order to save the boy. ‘ _Can I save him?_ ’

He raised the gun and aimed it at the creature’s head. The chance of the creature dying from Inaho’s three bullets was nonexistent. The bullets would only cut through the cursed creature’s head and wake it up.

‘ _How do I do this?_ ’ he thought but took a step back from shock as he saw the human boy moved. He watched the boy raise his head and open his exhausted blue eyes to look at the brunet. The boy’s eyes widened with surprise and stared terrified at Inaho. ‘ _Will you tell your master?_ ’ Inaho thought and felt his pulse fastening.

The blond boy – dressed in the blood covered enemy uniform – shook his head to Inaho, signing to him not to shoot the cursed baron. Inaho saw the dry lips of the boy form the words “ _too dangerous_ ” while a certain juvenile softness was embedded in the sorrowful eyes. Inaho had no idea of how he could simply leave; he did not wish for another death caused by the greedy cursed creatures. The boy’s eyes were gentle and yet filled with something Inaho had not seen before. The boy had lived through countless of nightmares; the softness in his eyes was a result of someone stealing the light out him.

‘ _He has no confidence or self-respect_ ,’ Inaho noted.

The brunet beckoned the blond boy by carefully waving his hand, but the boy shook his head and bit his lower lip. The boy was trapped in the creature’s arms and Inaho felt disheartened. He could not save him without risking his own life, and if he risked his own life he would certainly die in the hands of the cursed baron. No matter what plan Inaho thought of he could not come up with a solution. If the boy would try to sneak away the cursed baron would wake up with a start. Even if cursed creatures were nothing but corpses when they were asleep, they were still paradoxically alive enough to wake up from distractions around them, just like any living creature.

“ _Leave_ ,” the boy voicelessly said, begging Inaho to hurry away from the cursed creature before it would wake up.

‘ _I can’t do anything…_ ’ the brunet concluded as he understood the boy’s hopelessness.

Inaho nodded and decided to leave him. The boy knew his fate and Inaho did not wish to follow him. He had many people to protect, and he still had to claim revenge on the baron for having killed his friend and made the others grieve. The blood sacrifice was a stranger after all, who seemed to have accepted what was to happen to him; he was no one worth dying for. Such a cruel thought left a bad taste in Inaho’s mouth and he silently walked back to the door where the nervous Calm waited with sweat glistening on his face. Inaho stepped inside the bunker and they closed and locked the door.

“So what condition is the truck in?” Calm asked and waited for Inaho’s answer, but he quickly realized something was wrong when Inaho did not answer him immediately.

Inaho stared at the gun in his hand and saw the haunting images of Okisuke and the soft eyes of the blond haired boy who was in the cold arms of the cursed baron. That baron was a monster who enjoyed killing not because he had to, but because it was simply fun.

‘ _I need something better than this…_ ’ Inaho thought as the gun felt heavy in his hand, and looked up at the door, which led into the underground passage.

“Let’s go,” the brunet said and began walking toward the door.

“What’s wrong?” Calm asked in distress and followed his friend into the passage.

“Nothing,” Inaho answered, but felt Calm take a hold of his shoulders and – with surprising strength – the brunet was pushed up against the passage wall.

“Don’t keep me in the dark! You’re not protecting me like that!” the other boy yelled angrily, and Inaho stared at him for a couple of seconds.

He knew he had to tell him or Calm would not stop bothering him, but it was harder than Inaho thought to tell him another human was soon about to die the same way as Okisuke.

“There was a human boy in the truck; the one we saw last night,” Inaho said and stared at Calm who frowned with confusion. “He was trapped in the cursed baron’s arms, probably forced to keep the baron warm throughout the night.”

Calm stared at Inaho in disbelief with holding his breath, before he yelled:

“And you left him there!?”

Inaho had predicted Calm to react the way he did. It was understandable for the other boy to react with anger after losing a dear friend, and Inaho felt the same way but did not show it openly. To leave a human to die was a crime, and yet Inaho had to think of what was best for the safety of himself and everyone around him. One person dying was still better than the death of several people. The brunet did not expect his grieving friend to think the same as he did. Inaho knew it was cold of him to leave the blond boy to die, and yet he could not justify risking his own life or the lives of the evacuees. Someone had to make the difficult decisions, and that task had seemed to have fallen onto Inaho’s shoulders.

“He is the blood sacrifice who shot the UV-light under the influence of the baron’s venom,” Inaho finally decided to say.

“So what!? Doesn’t he deserve to live!?” Clam yelled back and slammed a hand against the wall next to Inaho’s head out of frustration.

“Do you know what a blood sacrifice is?” Inaho asked and stared at the boy without flinching. Calm went silent and stared back at him, and the boy’s anger began to calm down as he was reminded: “He sacrifices his blood willingly and lets the cursed creatures use him as a tool so the creatures won’t attack other humans. That is the role of a blood sacrifice.”

Calm sighed and backed away, releasing Inaho from his grip.

“I know…” he said quietly. “But according to Nina he had tried to run away from them last night. He must be terrified out there. And what use is there for him to sacrifice his blood now that the cursed creatures are out hunting anyway? If nothing else, he indirectly helps the baron to kill us. He will die for nothing.”

Inaho began to walk down the passage again. He was so angry and so hungry for revenge he could hardly contain it.

‘ _But I can’t act on affects. I need to think things through._ ’

“Each time a cursed creature drinks his blood one human is saved from that particular creature’s fangs. He thinks he is making a difference,” Inaho said with the monotone voice, which was so characteristically him. No matter how angry he was he could not seem to put emotion into his words.

“And so we leave him to be eaten alive instead.”

“The blood sacrifices know that and they won’t blame us for leaving them to die,” Inaho reminded him while he hoped he spoke the truth. The frightened look on the boy’s face made him think otherwise, but he hoped their conversation about the boy would stop there.

‘ _And he told me to survive_ ,’ Inaho thought. ‘ _That alone should justify my decision_.’

“Damn it…”

Calm sounded as if he were about to cry and Inaho sympathized with him. The situation was hopeless in many ways and it tore at their conscience and emotional health. They had been driven out of their homes and the streets they had walked down to school were now dangerous hunting grounds for cursed creatures. They had lost a friend and had been forced to turn cruel toward others by leaving them to die in order to survive themselves.

‘ _It’s a dog-eat-dog world_ ,’ Inaho thought.

They reached the school grounds and the exit of the passage was located right outside the assembly hall. The bunker they had stayed in had been one of the bunkers for students. They met the others inside the hall, and to Inaho’s relief he saw Yuki sit on the floor while Dr. Yagarai examined her eye reactions with a flashlight.

“Nao!” she exclaimed with a relieved sigh. “Thank goodness you’re all right!”

“I should say the same for you,” Inaho answered and walked over to her immediately. “How are you feeling?”

Yuki grinned and pushed Dr. Yagarai away who desperately tried to shine the flashlight into her eyes. The man took a deep breath and smiled wryly as he gave up.

“Except for a terrible headache, I feel fine,” she answered, but suddenly her look turned into anger as she stared at her brother. “I heard you’re going to fight the cursed baron.”

“Yes,” Inaho answered candidly and decided to leave for the bathroom now that his sister would begin lecturing him. He was not interested in hearing her tries of talking him out of it. He wanted to… No, he _had_ to fight him. “I will go to the toilet for a while. Don’t disturb me.”

“To make a plan on how to fight the baron!?” Yuki yelled after him, but Inaho pretended he did not hear her. She knew him far too well, he thought.

“I’ll be back within half an hour. I don’t feel well,” he lied and heard Yuki curse at him from behind his back.

‘ _I’m sorry, but I will do this_ ,’ he thought and stepped into the empty room with toilet stalls after he had walked down the corridor. He picked up the phone from his blazer pocket and entered the cubicle all the way at the back of the room, locked the door and sat down on the toilet seat to begin fiddling with the cracked phone while his mind went to work. ‘ _How do we kill him?_ ’

The baron could either die from being exposed to UV-rays for a longer time or getting decapitated, incinerated, crushed or shot with enough silver bullets the creature could not heal from its wounds. Inaho had to admit the last option sounded the most tempting, even if it was difficult. To torture the cursed baron to death would have certainly been satisfying, but it was also the most difficult thing to do. The baron would still be able to move after being shot, until the pain grew to such levels it rendered him into a still statue.

‘ _He will wear UV-protection_ ,’ Inaho thought and stared at the map of the city in front of him. ‘ _Decapitating him means we have to get into hand-to-hand combat – which is too dangerous since it’s a baron_.’

A cursed baron was a fourth or fifth generation vampire. It meant they had incredible strength that was not comparable to lower generation vampires. Because a baron was not a noble he had experience in fighting since they were the leaders of the armed forces on the battlefield. For a human to manage decapitating a cursed baron in physical combat was unheard of since no one, who had tried, had survived to tell the tale.

‘ _We’re just students, and not even Yuki – who has more experience than us – can handle a baron in hand-to-hand combat_ ,’ he thought and looked at a small intersection in the city. ‘ _Our only option left is distractio-_ ’

“NAO!” The door into the room slammed open and Inaho heard his sister’s heels stomp against the tiled floor with angry steps. She banged on the door to the cubicle Inaho was in. “I know you’re in there!”

“I am. It hasn’t been 30 minutes yet,” answered the brunet.

“We have to talk!” she yelled distressed. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing!?”

Inaho turned his attention to the phone again and marked the intersection he had been staring at with a cross in the picture editing software.

“I’m perfectly aware that this is crazy,” Inaho answered and tapped his finger onto the buildings around the intersection to mark them.

“Then why!?”

“I don’t know why but-,” Inaho said and looked at the map once he was finished marking the buildings. “That cursed baron seems obsessed with hunting us. Therefore we cannot attract him to the harbor or the evacuees. We need to get rid of him before we are allowed to enter the harbor.” He put his phone back into his blazer pocket and got up from the toilet seat and watched the door, which he knew his sister was waiting on the other side of. “With luck, the entire area has been evacuated by now.”

‘ _And thus we can raise havoc if we need to, in order to kill the baron._ ’

“But that doesn’t mean that-!” Yuki began but Inaho interrupted her by flushing the toilet. His sister went quiet and Inaho stepped out of the stall and looked at her.

“Okisuke is dead,” he announced and saw the horror in his sister’s face. ‘ _You understand, don’t you? This is just like when I was a child, remember?_ ’ She stepped aside as Inaho walked toward the basin to wash his hands, even if he had no reason to. “Adapt your plans for the situation. If you have to, trust your gut and make a decision,” Inaho recited from his memory. “Didn’t you tell me that?”

Now, Inaho’s gut was telling him to kill the cursed baron or else his sister and friends might risk dying. No one threatened those he cared about, and that emotion had been with him for as long as he could remember. At the Home – the orphanage where Inaho and Yuki had grown up in – Inaho had been bullied and teased for days and days, which had become years. He had not done anything to stop them aside from trying to run from them or bear with their demonic little ways that was typical to children. However, once the bullies had threatened Yuki, Inaho had felt a distressed need to protect his sister with any means, and had resulted in becoming cruel toward his demons by pushing them down in a hole in the ground and then thrown rocks at them.

‘ _No one threatens the ones who mean the most to me_ ,’ he thought, and noticed Dr. Yagarai stand in the restroom as well.

He had probably been trying to calm Yuki down in order to not exhaust herself too early after her concussion, but had failed due to Yuki’s stubbornness. Inaho looked up at himself in the mirror and saw the tiredness in his determined eyes.

“I think this is one of those times,” Inaho said silently and turned his gaze to look at Yuki in the mirror. “We need to fight.”

“I’ll do it,” Yuki offered bravely.

‘ _No. You don’t always have to do it_ ,’ Inaho thought.

“No, you need to rest and heal,” Inaho reminded her and turned the water off.

“But, Nao!”

Inaho lowered his eyes and stared at the basin’s drain. A worry about the others – the evacuees, his friends and the foreign girls – washed over him and its weight was heavier than he wanted it to be.

“Everyone’s so nervous,” he said quietly. “I want you to look after them. Cheer them up the ones that are scared, and make them feel at ease.” ‘ _I cannot do that…_ ’ he thought and buried his nervousness away somewhere deep inside him. “That’s only something you can do,” he then said and looked at Yuki with a slight smile.

‘ _You are an adult, and we’re kids; there’s only so much we can do for those who are frightened, unlike you. You can protect them and make them feel safe._ ’

†††

‘ _Princess_ …’ Slaine thought and stared at the burned crater on the middle of the main road where she had died. Nothing was left of her. ‘ _You wished for peace more than anyone…_ ’ He took a deep breath as he stared at the burned area on the ground where the missile had hit. ‘ _And yet a war broke loose. Who would commit something this atrocious?_ ’

Slaine had been ordered to wait for Trillram on the main road as the cursed baron was to contact his count to report about how far they had gotten on their mission. Slaine was not allowed to listen to the communication taking place and the boy had left the tunnel to walk over to the main road on the other side of the buildings and pay his respects to his secretly beloved.

The human boy felt weak from lack of sleep and food. The city had been under bombing during the night, which had kept him and Trillram awake before they tried to sleep in the pauses. Slaine had never heard the explosions or the rumbling roars from weapons like that, and he had been distressed throughout the entire night. Another wave was to come later.

Slaine had only gotten an emergency ration into his empty stomach. His mouth tasted bad from the stomach acids he had vomited up last night, and since he had not been able to brush his teeth he felt greatly uncomfortable with himself. The bag he had packed hung on Slaine’s shoulder and the boy held a soon emptied water bottle in his hand. He had been drinking about a liter since Trillram had woken up.

Trillram had woken up two hours ago when the sun had gone up in the horizon. The cursed baron’s mood had been terrible and he had brusquely pushed Slaine away from him. Slaine had not told him about the brown haired boy who had been sneaking around the truck while the cursed creature had been asleep. Slaine had wished to run away with the human but he knew there had been no way for both of them to escape if Slaine had tried to sneak away from Trillram’s arms; the baron would have woken up the moment Slaine made a move.

‘ _Then we both would have died…_ ’

At least the human boy was in safety. Slaine somehow envied him.

‘ _Don’t die like Okisuke…_ ’ he thought and sighed defeated.

Slaine wrapped his arms around his torso and thought back to the red haired girl he had saved from the cursed baron’s claws. He wondered if she was all right and if she had found a safe place to hide. Why had Trillram become so angry of her escaping? Why had he been so keen to murder all of the civilian clothed vampires in the hangar? It made no sense.

‘ _They spoke about a mission…_ ’ he thought and frowned as he stared at the burned area after the missile’s hit, which had taken Asseylum’s life. ‘ _What mission are we on exactly, and why is Trillram so interested in the humans in the tunnel that he won’t stop chasing them?_ ’ Slaine had been unconscious the moment Trillram had decided to chase after the humans, and so he had no idea of what was happening or why. All he knew was that he was to supply Trillram with blood – something he was soon empty of. ‘ _Something is going on, but what?_ ’

Slaine had checked his blood levels once Trillram had let go of him. Even if Slaine felt slightly more stable on his feet, he was still out of breath and had a loud pulse beating away in his ears. All of the tests he had taken had been far lower than normal. It would take weeks for him to recover the amount of blood loss from yesterday and today – if he was blessed with the luxury of surviving. He raised his hand to the wounds on his neck where Trillram had put them and felt the hard surface of the scabs beneath his fingertips. It felt demeaning to be marked like that by someone like Trillram.

‘ _I need more supplements_ ,’ he thought and lowered the bag to find a couple of supplemental pills to wash down with the water.

As he did so a sweet smell emitted from his clothes.  He had no idea from where the smell had come from. It did not smell like perfume and it was not Trillram’s scent either. It was a peculiar smell he could not place anywhere. It could not be the dry blood on his clothes; he knew how blood smelled like all too well, and this was not the smell of blood. This particular smell had haunted him throughout the night in Trillram’s arms.

‘ _I do recognize it somehow, but I don’t know from where…_ ’ he thought confused and sighed after emptying the water bottle.

He walked over to a damaged trashcan and threw the bottle inside. He was startled as the trashcan suddenly got loose from its support and dropped onto the ground with a loud rattle. ‘ _Idiot… No one cares anymore if you throw it on the ground or not…_ ’ Slaine thought and smiled a sorrowful smile as he looked around at the cracked pavement and broken windows and facades of the tall buildings around him.

“Your home isn’t as pretty anymore, Okisuke…” he whispered and looked up at the blue sky and felt a wind take a hold of his hair. He turned to look toward the horizon at sea from where the wind came, and saw a grey sky crawl closer toward the city. ‘ _A storm?_ ’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so, a first "something" has been established between the boys.


	6. The Children’s Echelon 2

Inaho stood in front of Yuki, Inko and Calm inside a classroom with a large projector screen behind him, which displayed the map on the cracked phone resting in his hand. He had finished briefing his friends and prepared them for the plan he had developed in the lavatory. Everyone seemed to be understanding of what to do, but the brunet was not happy. Calm and Inko had decided to help him and it gave Inaho a heavy sensation in his chest for reasons Calm so well put it:

“So basically this might be a suicide mission?” Calm asked from where he was sitting on a chair, leaning his arms on the backrest of the chair. “Distract the baron while Yuki and the others drive the evacuees to safety, and hope that we won’t die – am I correct?”

Inaho nodded.

“Only those who are prepared to take the risk will be allowed to participate,” said the determined brunet, who had decided on being completely blunt about the truth of their situation: “We will try to lure him into the trap, but if that fails we will most probably die.”

Inko sighed heavily with a gloomy expression on her face. Her determination was weaker, but Inaho knew – and feared – she was loyal enough to commit to the plan and risk her life together with Inaho and Calm.

“I’m in… No way I’m going to let that disgusting thing kill more innocent people,” she said with a voice lowered partly by anger, and partly by fear.

“Me too…” Calm sighed with a raised hand. “He took Okisuke from us and I have this urging need to revenge his death, or die trying.”

‘ _You’re all brave_ ,’ Inaho thought and looked at the boy and girl in front of him. To have his friends participate in this dangerous stunt did feel uncomforting, but at the same time, they were allowed to decide how to face this war just like anyone else was. If they wanted to risk their lives in battle they should be allowed to do so. ‘ _We were trained for this for a reason_ ,’ the brunet thought and looked at the map with markings he had put there. ‘ _The government got what they wished for: Children are now taking a step onto the battlefield_.’

“Don’t forget. He has a blood sacrifice with him,” Inaho reminded them and looked up from the phone. “The baron will be incredibly strong since blood sacrifices have perfectly healthy blood.”

“They maintain it obsessively in order to stay desirable for the vamps,” Yuki – who had stayed silent until now – said, and Inaho nodded.

“This one seemed pretty drained. If we can separate the baron from the blood sacrifice he will have no more blood to charge himself with,” Inaho said and knew how cold he sounded. “We need to be careful the baron won’t catch us and charge himself with our blood instead. If your lives are acutely threatened, make sure to get to safety no matter what, even if it means you have to abandon the mission.”

“So, we will have him follow us through the vacant city to exhaust him, and once he has burned away the effects of the sacrificed blood, we will get him,” Inko said and nodded with determination.

“Correct,” Inaho said and thought for a while to collect his thoughts, and then continued: “I’m not sure about the reason to why the baron chases us, but hopefully we can fool him into believing-“

Inaho was interrupted as the door to their improvised briefing room opened. The girl, who Yuki had saved, stepped inside and pulled off her white hood – revealing her thick and beautiful red hair that had been hidden beneath it until now. She let her staring gaze sweep over the occupants of the room, who in turn stared back at her in silence and wondered what business she had there. She had dark circles under her bloodshot eyes, and her body language told Inaho she was nervous – probably scared to be more accurate. She made herself small and was vigilant over each movement in the perfectly still room.

“He’s after me,” she finally said quietly, after a long series of seconds. She was speaking English with a rough accent.

Inaho’s mind came to a halt as he stared at her, before it woke up and began whirring with thought. Her skin was translucent – not pale. She was on edge, like a hungry wild animal being hunted by something bigger and scarier, which was true; a cursed baron was chasing her.

“W-why?” Inko asked emotionlessly surprised and stared at her intently. “Why would a baron chase after a girl?”

The red haired girl sighed and put her hands into the pockets of her hooded sweater, and frowned. She seemed to gather courage to give an explanation that seemed to be uncomfortable, and, after a while, she decided to look up at them again.

“The baron killed my father and was going to kill me as well, but a blood sacrifice saved me. I ran away and the baron ordered his men to find me and kill me,” the girl said bluntly with a husky and cautious voice. She knew she was revealing something she was supposed to keep secret, but she seemed to also know she had no choice but to give an explanation.

“Another blood sacrifice?” Calm asked with an exacerbated sigh. “How many are there?”

“It’s the one we saw last night. I saw him before I was shown into the bunker,” the girl let him know, and everyone went silent for a while. “He saved my life yesterday,” she confirmed once again.

‘ _That settles it. The blood sacrifice doesn’t work with the cursed creatures_ ,’ Inaho thought and felt his heart sting for leaving the boy in the arms of a cursed killer.

Inko raised her hands to her lips and stared at the girl with wide eyes. The news about the enemy blood sacrifice saving the girl, who now stood in front of them, surprised her. Yuki got a troubled look in her eyes, and Calm lowered his gaze. Everyone in the room knew about the boy due to Calm mentioning what he and Inaho had been forced to do in the tunnel, and they all seemed to feel guilty for not trying to save the boy.

‘ _So, if the blood sacrifice doesn’t work with the baron…_ ’ Inaho thought. ‘ _What is his objective? Why is he with the baron? Is he forced to? Then it means blood sacrifices aren’t willing sacrifices, as Vers has made us believe._ ’

“Why would the baron be so invested in you?” Inaho asked and looked at the girl. He was mistrustful about her, but suspected he knew the reason to why the feeling was blooming in his mind.

The girl sighed and frowned deeper, closed her eyes into a troubled expression, and said:

“I know things he doesn’t want me to spread.”

‘ _And so you ran away from a cursed creature, just like that?_ ’ Inaho thought and became surer of his suspicion.

“And how did you manage to run away? Shouldn’t the cursed creatures be faster than a human?” Inaho pushed, but he already knew the answer as he had observed her behavior and listened to her explanation. The girl decided to stay quiet from the uncomfortable question, and Inaho said boldly: “You’re a vampire, aren’t you?”

Chairs scraped against the floor as the other three tried to get as far away from the girl as possible. They all backed up against the wall and stared at her with panicked eyes while Inaho stood still and watched her movements. Inko and Calm did not seem to know what to do but press their backs against the wall behind them, and Yuki glared at her and made herself ready to act if she had to. Inaho, on the other hand, did not feel fear. If the girl would have thoughts about attacking them she would have done that a long time ago in the bunker.

“I won’t attack you,” the girl said quietly as she looked around. “If you let me avenge my father, I won’t attack you…”

“Yeah, right! You need blood, don’t you!?” Calm hissed from where he pushed himself against the wall. He grabbed a chair in case he had to use it as a weapon. “You will fall into a coma and starve to death if you don’t drink blood, right?”

The girl gritted her teeth as she seemed to not know what to say. Inaho knew Calm was right. The girl had to drink blood at least every three days in order to maintain a sufficient level of health, but Inaho did not know how much she needed each time.

“We don’t have any blood sacrifices here!” Yuki yelled at her. “Don’t expect us to-!”

“I will supply you with that,” Inaho said to interrupt his hostile sister.

The girl looked up at him with shock, not believing her ears. She took a step back as she stared at the brunet, but Inaho stared back at her and waited for her to accept his offering.

“NAO!” Inaho heard Yuki yell instead, but the boy did not pay her any attention.

“You’ll become addicted to the poison and won’t be able to stop,” the girl warned silently.

“Not if I have my blood extracted with a needle into a container,” the brunet said and observed the girl, who kept her eyes lowered as if she felt ashamed of him offering his blood to her. “Once given blood, you are strong, right?” Inaho then continued to ask, and the girl nodded. “And you will fight on our side?” The girl nodded again. “I don’t want you to go out of control, which makes me have to ask: Are you fine with me extracting my blood or do you have a violent need to hunt?” Inaho pried.

“I…” the girl said quietly and hesitated. “I’m fine with drinking it from a container… Are you sure about this?”

“If you fight on our side, then I agree with doing it,” Inaho said and turned his phone off and drop it in his blazer pocket.

‘ _How unexpected and welcomed this is; your strength will be an asset in this war_.’

“Nao… Why are you doing something like this? You can’t supply blood every three days!” Yuki said sternly and hoped to change Inaho’s mind despite she knew it was useless. She should have known by now, according to Inaho, that her little brother was an obstinate adolescent. “It takes weeks for a human body to recover from something like that!”

“She’s right,” the cursed girl said. “And I’m an eight generation vampire. I’m not as strong as Baron Trillram.”

“You are still stronger and faster than a human, which means you can take a beating we can’t. You might turn out greatly helpful in close range combat,” Inaho pointed out. “Don’t speak about what you are to anyone else or panic might spread.” Yuki stepped over to Inaho and loomed over him as she gave him a stern look, and Inaho looked back at her to stand his ground. “As for supplying blood, I will have to come up with a solution for that later. Right now, we need to hurry.”

“I will not let you give your blood to a vampire,” Yuki said silently. Now she was truly angry. She always went quiet when she was beyond her normal level of anger. Normally his sister would yell and groan and complain when she did not agree with Inaho, but once she went silent it marked her anger as being honestly real. “Will you bring her along to the evacuees? She’ll be like a fox in a hen house!”

“Not all of us are bad,” the girl said silently and hid her face behind her bangs. “Do you think we all are creatures without a sense of right and wrong?”

Yuki was about to turn around toward the girl and verbally lash out at her, but Inaho took a hold of his sister’s arm and pulled her away from the cursed girl. Instead, the brunet took his sister’s place by stepping over to the cursed girl and held out his wrist in front of her dangerous lips. The girl cowered away immediately by taking a step back from him and she immediately looked down against the floor while observing everyone’s movements from the corner of her eye.

Inaho was proving a point that the girl would not attack him, which was a hypothesis the brunet hoped was a true one. It was risky to hold out his wrist like that in front of a predator like a vampire, but all he could do was to trust her.

“If you are creatures capable of moral thinking, then you won’t attack me like this,” Inaho said and watched the girl grit her teeth. “Are you hungry?”

The girl nodded and Inaho threw a glance over his shoulder at the others, who still stayed away from her by pushing themselves against the wall furthest away from the cursed girl, like frightened preys. They were probably unintentionally tickling the cursed girl’s hunting instincts.

“Come with me,” Inaho said as he turned toward the girl again. “I will feed you.”

“Inaho!” Inko desperately yelled as an attempt to save the brunet, but Inaho ignored her distressed warning.

‘ _I’m sorry, but she can run away from the baron, but you can’t_ ,’ the brunet selfishly thought.

“We will begin the operation in three hours. Make sure to rest and eat properly before that,” Inaho told his friends and then walked past the girl, who followed him in silence.

Inaho showed her to the nurse’s office and they stepped into the room without anyone trying to stop them. It was a relief – and a miracle – that Yuki had not followed them. Inaho had to be honest with himself and admit he was unsure of the girl despite she had been able to hold herself back from attacking anyone ever since she had been brought on board the evacuation truck. They were alone now and that was her last test. If she attacked him there, when no one was watching, she proved herself to be dangerous.

‘ _I might not survive to warn anyone, though_ ,’ the brunet thought slightly troubled.

“Are you really sure about becoming a blood sacrifice?” the girl asked suddenly as Inaho began gathering the equipment he needed to extract his own blood.

“Even if we outnumber a cursed baron we are still at a great disadvantage. With your help we have a higher chance to make it out alive from all this if we need to fight for survival, which I hope we can avoid,” the brunet answered and took off his blazer and rolled up his sweater and shirt sleeve.

“You weren’t sure of your plan?” the girl asked surprised when Inaho tied a tourniquet around his arm and pulled it as tight as he had been taught in medical aid class.

“The odds were against us,” Inaho answered and cleaned off his arm with antiseptic. “The main plan was to attract the cursed baron away from the evacuees and the ships waiting for them at the harbor.”

“And you were to sacrifice yourself if you had to?”

Inaho nodded.

“But with your help, we might be able to change the plan and survive,” he said and connected the hypodermic needle to a plastic tubing.

He held the end of the tube inside a glass flask with one hand. With the other hand, he pierced his skin on his arm without hesitation, pushing the needle into the slightly bulging vein on the inside of his elbow. He released the tourniquet and the blood began flowing through the tubing immediately and poured into the flask. The sight was not as unpleasant as Inaho had expected it to be.

“How much do you need?” the boy asked and watched the level of blood rise slowly toward the first deciliter mark.

“About three deciliters is enough to bring me back to health after starving and running around. During normal circumstances two deciliter should be enough,” the girl said quietly and Inaho saw her eyes be fixed on the blood slowly filling the container.

“Only three?” Inaho asked feeling surprised, and the girl nodded. Inaho had thought she would need much more than that.

“You won’t notice any symptoms until after a couple of sacrifices unless I’m really hungry and need more.”

‘ _So you feed on your prey for a long time before it dies…_ ’ Inaho thought and saw the blood level reach the first deciliter mark. That explained why the blood sacrifice accompanying the baron had survived this far. ‘ _It’s cheaper as well with both physical energy and time than having to chase for a new prey every three days_.’ That explained why the cursed creatures were so successful as a species; a single prey could feed them for weeks.

No one had ever told Inaho how much blood a cursed creature actually needed. It had made him believe blood sacrifices gave a high quantity of blood once per month or so since that seemed to have been logical. He had not expected one single blood sacrifice to feed a cursed creature several times before they were replaced with a new one to let the replaced blood sacrifice recover, before they could do their duty again.

“When will you need more than the usual amount?” he asked.

He had to make sure he knew what he had to expect from becoming a blood sacrifice and when he had to sacrifice more blood to her. Inaho had to know all of the details in order to serve the girl enough to keep her calm and fed. The finer details had to wait; right now he had to supply her with what she needed and then return to plan and prepare their mission anew.

“If I’m wounded or have fought in a battle with my energy running out…” the girl answered with a hesitant mumble. “Or for the reason I ask for three deciliters now; because I have starved.”

“So you will need more once this fight is over?”

The girl nodded and turned around to show her back to the boy, clearly ashamed of what she asked him to do. It was peculiar. Inaho had never thought of a cursed creature to feel ashamed of feeding on the blood of the living, and he had certainly not thought a cursed creature would turn their back toward a possible enemy like that. Inaho and his peers had been taught in school that cursed creatures lacked all sense of moral and were greedy for blood once they were hungry. This girl did not fit that description. Neither did she seem mistrusting about him due to her turning her back toward him, making herself vulnerable for an attack.

‘ _Is it because I’m her blood sacrifice now, or is it because she knows she’s stronger than me?_ ’ the brunet thought.

“What should I call you?” Inaho asked once the flask had been filled with three deciliters. He gently pulled the needle out of his arm and quickly pushed a sterilized pad against the puncture wound and added pressure to stop it from bleeding. “I’m finished.”

“Rayet,” the girl whispered and turned around to look at the flask with Inaho’s blood. Carefully she walked up to it and picked it up. “It’s so warm…” she said breathlessly and stared at it for a short moment with gleaming eyes, before she thanked Inaho for his sacrifice and lifted the flask to her lips to drink.

Inaho watched the girl gulp down his blood. It was an odd sight. The blood flowed much differently to water; blood moved much smoother than water did, as though it was heavier than water. While Inaho observed the cursed girl drink, a sudden and horrible feeling of him selling his soul to someone dangerous washed over him. The girl would come to him for blood from here on, and he would not have the choice to deny her that; he had to protect the people on the ship and take responsibility for letting a cursed creature on board – if he was to take her with him. She was useful in the war since her strength was at least that of two or three people, and her superhuman abilities could become practical in the future. It made him feel uneasy as he realized he had decided on letting her board the ship waiting for the evacuees. All Inaho could do was to hope she would stay as a reliable ally and not become as cruel as the baron they were going to fight.

‘ _Is this how blood sacrifices feel?_ ’ Inaho wondered. ‘ _Conflicts and fear?_ ’

The color returned to her translucent face as she slowly drank the opaque liquid. She began to resemble a human again and would not need to hide her face from the others as she had done this far, unless she stepped out into the sun. Inaho thought back to the blood sacrifice he had seen that morning. Did the boy do this every day? Did he sacrifice his blood knowing he would die from doing so if a cursed creature decided to disregard his life’s value? What went through that boy’s mind as a cursed creature demanded its sacrifice from him? Fear? Terror? Humiliating submission?

‘ _What will I do once Rayet needs to feed on me more?_ ’ he thought and felt troubled. ‘ _Why did I decide on sacrificing myself like this?_ ’ Inaho had not hesitated to give her his life in a liquid form, and now he could not walk away from his decision. ‘ _Because I want to protect those I care about…_ ’ was his answer.

His comfortable life of a high school teenager had come to an end and he felt he had already forgotten how that life felt like. The loss of Okisuke weighed heavily in his mind and heart, and that had been the trigger for his thirst for blood. With his friend dying – because Inaho failed to save him – an intense anger and spirit to fight had awoken in him. Now he did not care if he as a child had to give his everything in order to save the lives of his remaining friends and family.

‘ _Does the blood sacrifice from before think the same?_ ’ he thought and realized he and the human boy with the enemy uniform had become the same. ‘ _What other reason is there to sacrifice your blood like this if not to save people?_ ’

“By the way,” Rayet suddenly said and woke Inaho from his thought. “Did you know there are two more vampires among the evacuees in the assembly hall?”

Inaho froze for a moment and thought back to what kind of people were among them. It should not have come as a surprise when his mind landed on the two foreign girls he had picked up earlier. They hid away their faces and seemed to have some kind of connection to the cursed princess of Vers. They were physically strong and had the same color to their skin as Rayet when she had been hungry.

The reason it surprised Inaho was because a worry washed over him now that he had drawn blood for Rayet. Who would feed them? All Inaho had been thinking about was to get them to someone who could help them with their urgent mission. He had not considered the fact that perhaps they would not be reunited with their own kind fast enough, before they would begin to starve. Inaho realized he could not possibly draw blood for all three of them. If they were hungry, when would they attack the evacuees?

‘ _I didn’t think of that until now!_ ’ he thought and hurried out of the room without paying any mind to the still bleeding puncture wound on his arm. Inaho had been too busy worrying about surviving that he had forgotten to worry about whom and what the girls actually were. His hurrying steps felt too slow, and he quickly turned them into a run. ‘ _They had the same color as Rayet… They are hungry!_ ’ he thought and ran down the corridor toward the assembly hall.

As he rounded the corner toward the hall, he saw the girls in front of him, hiding behind the open entrance doors into the assembly hall where people waited to be taken to safety. The smaller one had pulled down her hood to reveal brown braided hair that had been styled into a neat bun on her childlike head. She was sweating and gasped in the arms of the taller girl, who still had not pulled down her hood.

“You two,” Inaho said in English while being out of breath. The girls looked up at him with surprised and frightened expressions. They had clearly not expected anyone to find them like that. “Come with me.”

Inaho waited for them as they looked at each other, as if searching for a mutual answer to give the boy who was asking them to follow him. The taller girl nodded to the short girl and they walked toward Inaho with hesitant steps. Inaho let them approach a little more before he showed them into the first room he could find. It turned out to be a storage room for cleaning supplies.

“I have to ask you who you are,” Inaho said as soon as he had closed the door behind him. They were now secluded from the group in the assembly hall and could speak privately.

“That is quite a forthright question,” the taller girl answered with a voice that reminded Inaho about small birds chirping. She peered at Inaho from beneath her hood. “Who is asking?”

Inaho did not have the patience to play games. His mind spun like a merry-go-round that had gone haywire, desperately trying to find a solution to the difficult situation he now faced.

“The one who saved you,” he reminded them, and the girls looked at each other again. “Forgive my bluntness if it bothers you, but I need to know for everyone’s safety.”

He noticed the smaller girl stare at Inaho’s arm from which he had drawn blood. Her eyes were hauntingly fixated on the wound and the brunet regretted he had not taken the time to cover it with an adhesive plaster.

‘ _I’m unarmed_ ,’ the brunet thought with worry. He had returned the gun to his sister.

“It seems you already know the answer,” the tall girl said, and without a warning she dashed toward Inaho so fast Inaho had no time to even think about reacting. The brunet was refused a chance to escape as he was pushed against the door with a cold hand around his throat. “Forgive my vulgarity once again. This is the second time I have attacked you. However, kindly understand I cannot rely on anyone right now,” she then said with a lower tone to her voice, as a warning she could hurt him if she had to.

Inaho stared into her green emerald eyes, which stared back at him with the intense glare of a predator. Those green eyes were awfully familiar, but Inaho had never seen them looking like a hunter’s before. A golden lock of hair slipped down toward her neck underneath the hood.

This girl claimed the cursed princess of Vers was not caught in the assassination, since a body double had taken her place due to the princess not feeling well after the boat ride; they knew awfully lot about the princess that no one else knew. These girls were definitely cursed creatures, and the way they spoke…

“Princess Asseylum…” Inaho said with his voice strained from the hand clutching around his throat. “I’m not interested in hurting you.”

“Even an unskilled assassin would be able to tell a story like that,” the princess said quietly. “State your business and, depending on your reply, I might release you.”

“And if you don’t like the answer?” the boy asked as cold sweat began to dampen his back and forehead.

To his surprise, the girl’s sharp eyes suddenly went wide with confusion. She stared at him with a softening expression and then sighed and smiled wryly.

“If I find your reply disconcerting, nothing will happen and I would release you nonetheless,” she said and released him. She backed away from him to hide the short girl behind her. “I cannot bring you harm.”

“But princess-“ the small girl behind her said with the high pitched voice of a child. She watched the princess with distress as the taller girl pulled her hood down to reveal her golden locks.

It was truly the supposedly assassinated cursed princess standing before him – still alive and well.

“You said you can’t trust anyone. Then why did you let me go?” Inaho wanted to know as he watched her soft eyes, which turned saddened as they looked back at him.

“No matter who you are, I cannot harm a beautiful creature such as yourself. All I can do in this moment is to have faith in you to show kindness once again and not harm me,” she answered and looked at the girl behind her. “This is Eddelrittuo, my handmaiden. She answers to me and is of no danger to any of you.”

‘ _What do I do with this?_ ’ Inaho thought and felt the revelation of these girls’ true identity and situation weigh him down further. He remembered the princess had told him the girl called Eddelrittuo did not feel well, and he looked at the girl who gasped while clinging to the princess’s coat.

“You told me she doesn’t feel well,” Inaho reminded the cursed princess, and Asseylum’s expression turned into worry.

“Oh!” the princess exclaimed. “That is correct. We were about to feed when you interrupted us,” the royal cursed creature then said.

“Feed?” Inaho asked and put a hand on the door handle out of safety, in case the cursed princess and her handmaiden would attack the humans in the assembly hall. “If you need to feed, then take my blood before you attack the evacuees.”

The princess stared at him with perplexity shining in her emerald eyes. She turned her eyes toward Inaho’s hand resting on the handle, and the brunet gripped it tighter.

“Do not fret,” the princess said and smiled weakly. She unbuttoned her coat and reached into it to pull out a metal case. “We have rations with us. We would not as much as think the thought of attacking innocent.”

Asseylum opened the metal clasp of a black leather ribbon and folded the case open. Inside Inaho saw four vials of blood, which were chilled by the small containers in-between them. She took out one of them and gave it to her handmaiden.

“Go ahead. If you keep yourself from exertion it will keep you from hunger for one day,” the princess said with a kind smile as she looked at her handmaiden.

The little girl showed great appreciation as she accepted the vial and pulled the rubber plug open. Asseylum closed the case and put it back into her chest pocket inside her coat. Then she turned her attention toward Inaho while Eddelrittuo drank the deciliter of blood the vial contained.

“Forgive the possibly ghastly sight of us carrying human blood in a case to consume it during a time of need,” she then said and knitted her fingers together in front of her and lowered her head as a well-practiced apology of a royal.

“Blood from a blood sacrifice?” Inaho asked and Asseylum nodded.

“From a dear friend of mine who sacrificed his exquisite blood for preventative purpose in case I would become hungry on my visit here,” she explained. “It was an unnecessary sacrifice if my visit would have gone the way it had been organized, but now I must shamefully say his sacrifice is well needed.”

“Your friend made his duty as a blood sacrifice,” Inaho said and felt how his body relaxed. “Your presence makes things much more difficult for me. What will happen once those vials of blood have run out?”

It was a reasonable question, he thought. He could not feed three cursed creatures alone and to keep them a secret was nearly impossible once they got onto the ship at the ferry dock, which was filled with evacuees. Inaho could feed Rayet for a while, but now that there were three of them…

“If I get the chance to contact the count who brought me here, I am certain blood will be of no concern to any of you,” the princess said. “We have blood storages on the ships. The blood in these vials will keep us fed for a long time as long as we stay out of physical activities that need large amount of energy.”

“Are you sure you can trust this count?” Inaho asked as his mind was quick to think, and Asseylum’s expression turned into pure worry.

She shook her head and closed her eyes as she squeezed her hands tightly together out of concern.

“No…” she said quietly. “I am lost about who I can believe in. My grandfather is the only one I can trust with certainty.”

“Whoever carries the responsibility of your assassination, it must be someone who is eager to start a war again. Do you know someone like that?” Inaho asked and watched Asseylum shake her head. “Does the name Trillram say anything to you?” he continued, and Asseylum’s eyes widened as she stared at him.

‘ _So, you do know him._ ’

“Yes. That is the baron who stays as a guest on the count’s ship I traveled with across the sea. Why?”

“Is he known for attacking your kind?” the boy asked and watched Asseylum quickly shake her head.

“No, he would never harm us cursed,” she said, and Inaho felt as if a sudden puzzle piece had fallen into place.

“He is chasing us because of a girl called Rayet is with us. She is a cursed creature too, and she claims Trillram murdered her father and would have slain her as well if she had not escaped,” Inaho said and watched Asseylum’s reaction to determine if she recognized the story at all.

The princess looked horrified and raised her hands to her lips to cover them as she gaped in disbelief. She shook her head and the childlike Eddelrittuo dropped the empty vial in her hand as she heard Inaho’s story. The sound of glass shattering against the floor was the only sound in the room for a handful of seconds.

‘ _So, you didn’t expect that of him_ ,’ Inaho thought.

“I think we have found the one you cannot trust,” the boy finally said.

“I…” Asseylum said in devastating shock. “That cannot be true… Why would Sir Trillram want to assassinate me and murder innocent creatures?”

“Perhaps those he murdered were not as innocent as you believe them to be,” Inaho said and turned toward the door. “In any case, I will have to join my friends and begin the battle against him. Please go with the evacuees and, once you reach the dock, ask to speak with the officer leading the rescue. He or she might be able to help you contacting your grandfather, or whoever you need to speak to.”

“Inaho was it?” Asseylum asked in a hurry before the boy had stepped out of the room. Inaho stopped. “Let me assist you. I need to speak with Sir Trillram.”

“It is too dangerous,” Inaho answered and waited for the princess’s answer.

As he expected, she protested:

“I need to know the truth, Inaho. Let me go with you. I may be a princess but I _am_ a third generation vampire.”

Inaho thought for a while. A cursed baron was a fourth or fifth generation vampire, which meant Asseylum was stronger than Trillram. With the blood of a proper blood sacrifice at hand she would be much stronger than Rayet and Trillram combined. Then again, if the princess died, the war would never come to an end. However, she seemed confident in her strength, and Inaho decided to show trust in her ability. If the princess could save them from dying by lending them her strength, Inaho would selfishly take the chance and have her participate in the plan. She and Rayet would help the ones Inaho cared about to stay safe.

“Can you fight?” Inaho asked quietly and heard the princess take a step closer toward him.

“Yes. I have gotten combat training,” she answered with sincerity, and Inaho nodded.

‘ _That makes me feel safer with letting you come along_ ,’ the brunet thought.

“Charge yourself with the blood from your blood sacrifice once battle is brewing, princess. Try not to engage in a fight with the baron if you can, since your undead life is important for both of our worlds. Don’t tell anyone who you are,” Inaho said and heard the princess thank him before he left to join his friends and prepare the first step of their plan, while Asseylum finished feeding.

‘ _Nothing will stay the same_ ,’ he thought and stepped into the assembly hall. He saw his friends stand in a crowd while Rayet stood alone further away from them, clearly not being welcome in the group. ‘ _Not this city, this country … or me._ ’

 

 


	7. Children on the Battlefield

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here comes a massive chapter!

“Troyard!” he heard the cursed baron yell, and Slaine jumped from the sudden sound. He hurried immediately back to the tunnel from where he had been observing the storm that was closing in on the city.

“Y-yes, Sir Trillram,” he answered with the breath caught in his throat and watched Trillram walk closer with hurrying steps. He looked somewhat distressed – which always meant he was in a bad mood. The call the baron had made must have been a grave one.

‘ _Who were you calling and why?_ ’ the blond boy thought curiously. Slaine could not help the feeling of suspicion crawl around in his mind. The mission they were on was still unknown to him. Had Trillram’s mission been to murder his own kind? Slaine thought back to the cursed creatures that had been killed by Trillram and his soldiers at the airport. Trillram had been talking about the girl Slaine had saved, as if she were dangerous. ‘ _What are we actually doing here?_ ’

“Get me my sun protective helmet from the truck!” Trillram yelled and pointed at the truck behind Slaine. The boy gulped as he realized what he was ordered to do, and he slowly turned around to look at the truck in which he had woken up last night – the truck where Okisuke from Shinawara lay quiet. “Hurry up!” the cursed creature yelled behind him, and Slaine felt his own legs move him toward the truck automatically, as if his body reacted to a threatening situation for him.

Slowly and hesitantly he peeked inside the truck. The moment he saw the shoes of the corpse Slaine pulled back and felt nauseous. He leaned his back toward the truck and breathed a couple of deep breaths to calm the sickness that had welled up from the bottom of his nearly empty stomach, and then made a second try; if he refused Trillram would punish him.

‘ _I’d rather punish myself…_ ’ Slaine thought and collected his courage to look into the truck for a second time. He saw the shoes once again. Then he saw the trousers to the school uniform, and lastly, Okisuke’s face. All of Slaine’s heat poured out of him as he saw the face of the corpse – the inanimate face of a high school boy. ‘ _Okisuke…_ ’

Slaine forced himself to enter the truck with great resistance trying to force him back. The moment he got inside he sensed a sweet smell in the truck. It was a peculiar smell he had never sensed before; it did not smell rotten inside the truck as he had expected it to. The smell was pervasively sweet and reminded him about an intense scent of vanilla, fruits and acetone. It was quite specific and somehow a wrong kind of smell; he could not explain why it smelled wrong until he realized the smell he felt was the smell of death around Okisuke’s corpse.

‘ _It’s the smell stuck to my clothes!_ ’ Slaine thought shocked as he realized the smell of death had gotten into his clothes after holding the boy in his dying moment. He must have been in such shock last night he had not been able to react to the smell. An urgency to undress hit the living boy. Slaine wanted to change clothes immediately to get rid of the hauntingly wrong smell.

‘ _I need Trillram’s helmet!_ ’ he reminded himself and saw Trillram’s helmet lie at the back of the truck. Carefully he tried to crawl around the dead body to avoid touching it, and he managed to reach the helmet without bumping into the corpse. Slaine took the helmet into his arms and turned around to get out of the truck, but his eyes fell unwillingly onto Okisuke’s body once again.

‘ _He’s so pale…_ ’ Slaine thought as he watched the translucent skin. ‘ _It’s similar to the skin of a cursed creature who hasn’t fed for a while._ ’

The blond hugged the helmet with both arms, like a child holding onto a stuffed animal, and held his breath. The sweet odor was sickening – overwhelming even. It was a smell that would haunt him for the rest of his life due to its specific nature and circumstance – be forever embedded into his memory.

Okisuke’s eyes were sunken in and Slaine saw a large, dark purplish stain on the boy’s back where gravity had gathered the remaining blood in the boy’s body, and the hands were faintly bluish.

The cursed creatures had never cared about the dead, mostly since they had already died once and the pity toward living creatures had disappeared the moment they had woken up from the dead to walk the earth once more. Slaine, however, could not think so little of someone who had just died. The boy could not entirely distinguish a dead person from a living one since death was so absurd and new to him; he had not gotten the chance to digest what it meant to die, and for that reason he still feared it – even now as he stared at the deceased boy in front of him.

“Hurry up already!” he heard Trillram growl from the tunnel, clearly with his patience running out.

Slaine jerked from the surprise of the loud yell and began moving immediately. In a way Slaine was relieved to be verbally forced out of the truck, and in another way he was disappointed at not being allowed to study the state of a corpse – the state he would end up in, in either the near or far future. It was morbidly fascinating even though Slaine felt nauseous from the encounter.

The boy hurried out and took a deep breath of the fresh air the moment he got a couple of steps away from the truck. The grey clouds were drawing closer quickly as the wind had grown in strength, and the daylight began to fade. Despite that Trillram was still in need for his helmet. The uniform was made to protect the cursed baron’s skin from UV radiation; all that the vampire needed was the helmet. When Slaine reached the tunnel Trillram pulled the helmet forcefully from Slaine’s hands and put it on.

“What took you so long, blood sacrifice!? We do not have all day, human!” Trillram yelled slightly agitated.

Slaine could not help but to think of reasons to why Trillram was behaving so suspiciously. The baron clearly kept something from Slaine, considering Slaine had not been allowed to listen to the conversation between the baron and the civilian vampires in the hangar yesterday, nor the call the baron had just made. The cursed creatures at the airport had been murdered and the last survivor of them was on the run; the one Trillram now hunted.

‘ _The girl is with the humans in the bunker…_ ’ Slaine thought. ‘ _And whatever mission you spoke about with the now dead vampires is to be strictly kept a secret. You fear the girl will speak about your secret mission to someone, don’t you?_ ’

“Sir…” Slaine said as he followed the cursed baron out of the bunker. He continued timidly, careful to not anger the baron: “Forgive me if I ask, but what mission are we on exactly?”

Trillram did not stop and kept on walking toward a hill next to the road. Slaine had no idea where they were going.

“You are nothing but a blood sacrifice; you are not in the position of asking questions about things you have nothing to do with,” the cursed creature said angrily. Trillram was unmistakably nervous about something. “You shall do as I say; nothing more and nothing less, and once you have fulfilled your purpose, you shall die unknowing. Got it, blood sacrifice?”

Slaine pulled the bag further up over his shoulder as it was slipping down due to its weight, and stared at Trillram’s back. He was tired of the constant death threats, and that tiredness felt dangerous. The moment he stopped taking them seriously he would most certainly die.

“Y-yes sir,” the human boy answered. “What about the humans in the bunker?”

“The bunker is empty; there were no life signs inside it when I listened through the bunker door. Hurry up now, and do not dare falling behind!” the cursed creature angrily ordered as he climbed the hill, and Slaine hurried after him and walked one step behind the baron.

‘ _Did they escape through a tunnel of some kind?_ ’ he thought and stared at the back of Trillram’s helmet. ‘ _Wherever you are, stay safe. He’s coming for you…_ ’

†††

“Are you still tinkering?” Inaho heard Inko’s voice from somewhere behind him. Inaho was sitting on the floor in the armory and had been busy preparing his gear and was now loading a magazine for the pistol he would have with him.

‘ _Half an hour left_ ,’ Inaho thought as he looked up at his friend, who answered him with a wry smile. Their mission was to start soon.

“Mm. What about you?” he asked.

“I’ve remade myself familiar with the tank,” Inko answered with her hands femininely tied behind her back. “Everyone is on edge.”

“Understandable.” Inaho finished with the magazine he had been filling and continued with the next. “They have been chased by a nightmarish creature, and now they’re supposed to get out onto the streets again and risk being chased once more,” the brunet said.

“Calm said he’s so stressed out that he’s shivering,” Inko said quietly to not make Clam overhear them speaking about the boy.

Calm was preparing his gun as well, further away from Inaho. The westerner had preferred to prepare himself alone, probably as a way to give himself time to say his prayers and grieve his lost friend.

“Let’s hope he doesn’t get a cold. Stress might weaken the immune system,” Inaho murmured and heard Inko chuckle downheartedly.

Inko walked around him and squatted down in front of him to look the boy in the eyes. Inaho stopped loading the magazine and looked up at her. She smiled a smile which told him she was terrified of what they were going to do. Inaho’s heart ached. He would hate to see her die if their luck would run out.

‘ _You’ve been my friend for how long now?_ ’ the brunet thought and watched the girl with pity – the girl who had saved him and his sister from starvation years ago.

“What?” Inaho asked as he wondered about the reason to her chuckle, and Inko gently pulled a lock of hair back from her face and brushed it behind her ear.

“You worry about a cold … when we all might die in the next hour,” she said saddened while trying to bravely keep a smile on her lips.

Inaho knew, due to his nature of being unable to express his emotions to others, that the others might have interpreted his composed expression as calm. That was as far from the truth as they could come; Inaho was terrified of ending up as Okisuke or the blood sacrifice he had briefly met. In a way, Inaho admired the blond boy’s ability to stay alive and act as a blood sacrifice, since each time the baron drank the soldier’s blood Inaho and his friends would be spared from the same fate. The boy seemed to be braver than anyone Inaho had met before, and even if Inaho suspected he thought of the boy just as naively as his friends did, Inaho was still sure he himself would have taken his own life before his body would have been emptied of blood.

‘ _He’s braver than me_ ,’ Inaho thought. ‘ _Maybe he has no choice but to be brave, but it takes a lot for a human to live like that; he could have ended it whenever, but he was still alive this morning._ ’

“It’s not like I’m fearless or anything,” Inaho said and looked at his friend with sincerity. “I thought we were going to be rescued.”

‘ _That was why I was so calm in the evacuation truck before we were attacked by the cursed creatures; I didn’t think we would have to go into war since I felt safe with our soldiers being out on the battlefield_ ,’ he thought, but found it unnecessary to voice.

Inko looked surprised, which made Inaho feel insulted in a way. Of course he was afraid. Why did Inko look surprised hearing about it? Inaho was human, just like her.

“But then our soldiers were so easily wiped out without a moment’s hesitation…” Inaho continued and went quiet. He pushed a last bullet into the magazine with a forceful motion. ‘ _It’s not like I have a choice_ ,’ the brunet thought frustrated. “If the same thing happens to us, I am sure we won’t even have time to say our prayers. What kind of regrets will I have in that moment? I can’t bear just sitting and waiting while thinking about…” He made a pause and stared at the magazine in his hand, before he continued: “… crap like that… I bet Calm feels the same.”

Inko lowered her eyes and looked as if she was about to cry. The sight made Inaho’s heart ache even more painfully.

“Inaho…” she mumbled and put her arms around her torso to give herself a tight hug. She was trembling.

“Inko… You know you don’t have to-“ Inaho began to say, but his dear friend turned her eyes up to him with determination and interrupted him:

“No. I’m fine,” she said with a strong voice.

‘ _No, you’re not…_ ’ Inaho thought as he watched her tremble. ‘ _You’re trying to be brave. For whom are you being brave?_ ’

Inko got up from her crouch and walked closely by Inaho, and said with a soft voice:

“Don’t … catch a cold, all right?”

‘ _Inko…_ ’

The girl had noticed Inaho was stressed out as well.

Inaho looked over his shoulder to watch her leave the armory, and then he saw Calm looking their way. Had the boy heard them? Without any further delay, Inaho finished loading the magazines and went to find the incendiary grenades he needed.

†††

The wind had become strong once it hit the city without mercy. It pulled at his hair and clothes, and the tails of the baron’s uniform – who stood next to Slaine on the overpass above the tunnel – flapped aggressively in the wind. The cursed creature was looking through binoculars over the area while Slaine waited obediently for a new order to follow.

The human boy was freezing and he was not sure if it was because of the anemia and hunger, or due to the wind. The uniform he wore should have been enough to keep him warm; it was the same kind of uniform the cursed soldiers wore after all. All clothing used by the cursed creatures was specifically made to help the creatures stay warm due to their corpse-like state. The only heat they produced themselves was from their movement; they had no core temperature like humans did, which made them incredibly vulnerable to cold. Trillram did not seem to have any trouble with the cold wind, which made Slaine believe he was freezing due to anemia and hunger.

A trivial thought went through his mind as he hugged himself to stay warm:

‘ _I would have liked to enjoy a warm drink right now_.’

The thought made his mind stop for a while. If he had been in a different situation he would have probably laughed at that thought since it was bizarre due to where he was right now. Slaine was in a dangerous situation; he was standing next to his future murderer and was out on a battlefield, and a warm drink was what he thought about. His life had never hung by a thinner thread than now and yet a cup of coffee would have been nice.

He smiled a sorrowful smile and sighed.

‘ _I guess it’s the little things that would even make a situation like mine worth living…_ ’

The boy jumped from shock the moment a loud rumble was heard from the tunnel below. It was an aggressive rumble, like that of a powerful engine. The evacuation truck had woken up and the cursed baron was quick to react. As if he were a flash, Trillram jumped over the railing of the overpass and landed on the road in front of the tunnel opening.

“Dare not fall behind, blood sacrifice!” the creature yelled in ecstasy and Slaine saw the cursed baron dash into the tunnel and heard tires screeched from beneath the overpass.

Slaine hurried to run over to the hill he had climbed to reach the road on the overpass, and once he got down he saw Trillram disappear after the red lights of the truck with terrifying speed. The human boy was about to follow his instincts and get into the remaining truck to follow after the cursed baron, but as he pulled himself up onto the first step of the truck to get inside, he stopped.

‘ _Wait… What am I doing?_ ’ he thought and stared out into empty space while his mind began to spin with thought. ‘ _I don’t have to follow him…_ ’ the boy thought and stepped down from the truck. He backed away from it and stared at it as he tried to get his mind into deciding on what to do. If he followed Trillram he would die. Slaine was certain of it. If he decided to ignore the cursed baron’s threat he would have a considerably larger chance to survive. There was the chance of Trillram finding the blond sooner or later, but that was a chance Slaine was prepared to take in order to hopefully save his own life. ‘ _Did Trillram really think I’m obedient enough to run after him and let him kill me?_ ’

The blond boy had been through enough horrors; he would not chase after more if he could avoid them, and wherever Trillram was there was horror in the creature’s wake. Slaine had thought about what to do during his unrested night in Trillram’s arms, and now he realized he had the opportunity to run away.

‘ _At least I can try_ ,’ the boy thought and hurriedly heaved up the bag higher up onto his shoulder. He had no idea where he was supposed to go, or how the city roads’ network looked like, but Slaine would take his chances on the streets.

Slaine stopped to look at the shoes of the dead boy inside the truck. The blond wished not to have another look at the boy and decided to leave the corpse there. ‘ _I’m sorry I won’t give you a proper grave, Okisuke_ ,’ Slaine thought and hurried past the open truck door. ‘ _I have no time for a burial: I need to protect my life in every way I can now.’_

He climbed up onto the overpass once again to stay in the daylight and by that hopefully avoid a cursed creature who was out hunting. As he got up onto the overpass he looked around and saw a traffic sign pointing out the direction to the airport.

‘ _Perfect!_ ’ the boy thought and began running in the direction of the airport. If he managed to find Nilokeras still standing on the ground he would be able to fly away and disappear as long as his low blood levels would not take his flying ability away from him. ‘ _It’s okay; I can amp up the oxygen in the mask._ ’

His hand brushed against the handle of a gun on his hip, which Trillram had given him moments earlier to protect him with. The gun he carried would not hurt a cursed creature more than with a simple bullet wound, and since the cursed creatures had learned not to react to pain that was not dangerous for them, it would not help the human boy to use the gun toward a future hunter. If it had contained silver bullets the pain from several bullets would have been strong enough to render a cursed creature disabled with pain if shot in the right place. Normal pain, however, was of no concern to them. The cursed creatures could break their bones or be stabbed without reacting to the pain since they knew that kind of pain would not kill them. It was a reason to why they were so terrifying. They could continue fighting and push through it as long as their bodies were somewhat intact despite it hurting. They would later recuperate themselves with a high quantity of blood.

‘ _This gun won’t do…_ ’ Slaine thought troubled and slowed down as he got to an intersection. He looked at the signs and was about to follow the arrow pointing toward the airport when a large white vehicle pulled Slaine’s attention to it; it stood out among the concrete buildings with its color and the red lights on its roof. ‘ _An ambulance!?_ ’ Slaine thought with surprise and came up with an idea. He ran up to it to see if the doors were locked. To his relief they opened, and he hurried up to climb inside to rummage through everything the vehicle contained.

†††

“ _The target is chasing them by foot. They have almost reached the first checkpoint. I haven’t seen the blood sacrifice, though_ ,” Inaho heard Calm say in the handheld communication radio.

“Keep an eye out for the blood sacrifice. If he’s still alive he either follows the target to supply him with blood, or has deserted his duty and ran away,” Inaho said. “If you see him, stop him from getting close to the target or try to save him.”

“ _That’s easy for you to say! I’m up on a freaking roof!_ ” Calm complained.

“What about the evacuees?” asked the brunet and ignored Calm’s grumble.

“ _They’re moving away from the target, just like planned. They’re safe right now_ ,” the boy answered, and Inaho sighed with relief.

“ _Inaho… Are you sure about this?_ ” he then heard Inko say in the radio. There was a mechanical growl in the background as she spoke. It was a nostalgic noise Inaho recognized from their training at school. It was the noise of the tank’s engine. “ _I’ve left the school ground now and I’m on my way to the target point._ ”

“ _Isn’t it a little too late for regrets when the mission has been put into motion, Inko?_ ” Calm’s voice came from the radio before Inaho got the chance to speak.

“ _I’m not regretting anything!_ ” Inko yelled angrily. “ _I’m just nervous, that’s all._ ”

“Both of you stay calm,” Inaho decided to say. “If everyone does their tasks according to the calculations, things will work out fine,” the brunet continued, to calm both of them down. In honesty, Inaho was not sure of how true his words were, but all he could do was to give the others a false sense of safety in order to keep them calm enough to be able to focus on their mission.

Inaho was hiding inside a convenience store opposite of the building, which he had marked on the map in his phone as he had been pondering on what to do in the lavatory. It was the building they had decided to use as a weapon against the cursed baron, and all he could do at the moment was to wait until the others had done their part.

‘ _We might die within a couple of minutes, and if we do we will die painfully_ ,’ the brunet thought. He could not have them think about it or else they might have become too nervous to fulfill the mission, and many more would die in the near future. ‘ _But I won’t let him kill you_ ,’ Inaho then thought as he made sure the incendiary grenades were safe in the utility belt of the brightly colored orange safety uniform he wore. ‘ _If he goes after any of you, I will distract him as you run away_.’

Moments earlier – during the tense fifteen minutes before they had begun their mission – Calm had lost his nerves and lashed out at Inaho for not saving the blood sacrifice in the tunnel. The boy had thought of Inaho as a hypocrite who was prepared to risk his own life in order to save evacuees, but not risk his life to save the boy in the tunnel. Inaho had not taken anything the boy said as an insult; Inaho had known the boy had been acting out due to tension from the mission they were to go out on. The brunet had silently let Calm say every thought the boy harbored, before Rayet had stopped the westerner by interrupting him:

“ _Then if you’re that willing to throw a life away, why won’t you go out there and save the blood sacrifice? Or is your life more worth than Inaho’s, so you ask him to do it instead?_ ” she had asked bluntly and stared at the human boy, who had glared back at her with shock. “ _Don’t you think Inaho should be allowed to decide who he will risk his life for without having to listen to your arguments about what you think is right and wrong?_ ”

“ _What do you know about right and wrong!?_ ” the western boy had yelled back after he had realized he had lost ground to a cursed creature. “ _You’re a killer!_ ”

“ _What I am has nothing to do with what you’re throwing out of your mouth at your friend_ ,” Rayet had answered and stared the other boy down. “ _If you’re more capable of moral thinking than me, then you should know what you’re asking of your friend is to throw away his own life for anybody. What if Inaho doesn’t want to die for the blood sacrifice? Who the hell are you to be angry at him for a thing like that? Isn’t that decision his to make? Grow up._ ”

In the end Calm had gone completely silent. Inaho had to agree with her. No one was allowed to tell another living creature when they should risk their life, because the only one who was allowed to make that decision was the one doing the sacrificing. Calm had not had a single word to counter Rayet with – probably because the boy had understood he had gone out of control by lashing out at Inaho.

Now, Inaho remembered her words and he thought about them. He was still surprised about her protecting him like that. Had it something to do with Inaho being her blood sacrifice? No matter why she had gone in between Calm and Inaho, the brunet was still grateful for her words – not because they had protected him, but because they had justified Inaho’s decision in the tunnel. Only Inaho was allowed to make the decision of whom he would give his life for, and no one was allowed to be angry at him for it.

‘ _Not even me_ ,’ the brunet thought and took a deep breath to calm down.

Now, he had made his decision. If something went wrong and the cursed baron would try to kill his friends or the princess, Inaho would intervene and attract the vampire to him instead. The orange safety uniform was covering him for the sole reason of him being easy to spot. The reflexes would make him visible everywhere, which made it impossible for him to run and escape once a cursed creature decided to hunt him. He wore mesh armor beneath the safety uniform to protect himself as best as he could, but it was of no use if the baron was determined about killing him.

 “What is your time, truck driver?” Inaho asked in the radio, and the princess’s voice answered:

“ _She cannot converse with you at the moment. The baron has caught up with us and she is attempting to shake him off our tail. He is faster than we predicted_.” Inaho could hear Rayet’s voice in the background as the princess forgot about letting go of the call button. “ _Rayet tells me to relay the following message for you: We are on time, but if we keep up like this the baron will catch us._ ”

“Understood,” Inaho answered. “Increase your speed then.”

“ _Understood!_ ”

He had to pace things up.

“Inko?” Inaho said in the radio. “Can you increase your speed?”

“ _What!? No way, Inaho! This tank is old and rusty; if I increase my speed the engine might grow too hot! Why?_ ”

“The baron has caught up with the truck. They had to increase their speed,” Inaho explained.

“ _Are you serious!? What kind of blood sacrifice is the boy we saw last night?_ ” Inko exclaimed. “ _I will do my best, but if the engine heats up too much I will have to slow down or stop entirely._ ”

“Take the risk,” the brunet ordered her.

‘ _I will stall the baron until you get there if I have to_ …’ he thought and felt his pulse begin to beat harder – hard enough it echoed in his ears and mind.

“ _I’ve spotted the blood sacrifice_ ,” Calm said in the radio. “ _He’s moving toward the airport_.”

“Good. How far has he come?”

“ _Not far. If he changes his mind he could reach the target spot_ ,” Calm informed. “ _What do you want me to do?_ ”

“Stay there,” Inaho told him. “If he decides to join his master, stop him.”

“ _Gotcha’!_ ”

It was good news, Inaho thought. If the boy had decided to run away Inaho hoped for his sake he would be able to survive and somehow find a reason worth living for. His conscience was relieved from leaving the boy to his fate that morning.

Inaho waited and conducted the radio communication the way he had been taught in school. He kept track of everyone’s whereabouts and checked with each and one of them at even intervals. There was a great chance Inko would not be able to get to her destination in time, though, and Inaho feared he might have to step out onto the streets before he was supposed to.

“ _Last checkpoint reached!_ ” the princess’s voice said in Inaho’s radio. “ _The target is weaker and has slowed down!_ ”

“Understood,” Inaho answered and contacted Inko: “What’s your status?”

“ _I’m almost there! The engine is hot but it will last a little while longer, I think!_ ” she said with stress audibly shaking her voice.

“The truck will arrive any moment now,” Inaho let her know.

“ _I’m sorry, but I can’t hurry any faster,_ ” his friend told him apologetically.

“Do your best,” Inaho said and took the gun from his holster and prepared to get out there once the truck with Rayet and the princess would arrive.

“ _Inaho? What will you do?_ ” he heard Inko say in the radio, but Inaho decided to ignore her. He had no idea what to tell her; he could not ask her to hurry since it would do no good. “ _Inaho!? Calm! Inaho’s getting out there! Stop him!_ ” she then yelled as she quickly caught up with what Inaho was thinking about. She knew him too well.

“ _What!? Don’t be crazy, Inaho!_ ”

“ _Ina-!_ ”

The boy had to turn the radio off. He could not listen to his friends call for him in such a distressed manner. All he could do was to grip the gun harder with his hand and say his prayers now that he had a short amount of time to do so. If he waited then his time would risk running out fast enough to not give him the chance.

The rumbling of the truck came closer, and so did the rumbling of the tank. Inko was probably speeding up despite the engine being hot. Inaho had to get out there the moment the truck was behind the corner to be able to intercept the cursed baron. The brunet listened intently. The rumbling was growing louder.

‘ _One…_ ’ the brunet counted. ‘ _Two…_ ’ He prepared his stance to be able to dash out through the convenience store door. ‘ _Thr-!_ ’

The truck drove by but hit its breaks. It drifted aggressively before it came to a halt, and Inaho froze as he stared at the hooded princess stepping out of the truck with an umbrella in her hand to protect her from direct daylight, just in time to face the cursed baron. The wind tugged at the umbrella, but she kept it steady and stared at the baron.

“After all this, you decide to beg for your pitiful little life?” Inaho heard the baron laugh amused. “How unsightly!”

The princess did not waver:

“Stand down!” she yelled with her clear voice, but it was not as gentle as Inaho remember it to be. She was angry – and dangerous. “In the name of the first princess of Vers, I shall not tolerate such unashamed barbarity!”

She pulled her hood down to show the baron her face, and the enemy took a step back. Inaho could not see the expression the baron wore since the baron’s face was covered beneath the sun protective helmet.

“Wha…! Her highness!” the enemy vampire yelled with a high pitched voice, and took another step back from shock.

“Be gone, Sir Trillram!” the princess yelled. “How dare you to chase innocent humans, you insolent wretch!?”

“It cannot be possible! You are supposed to be dead!” the baron yelled with panic. It sounded as if the baron had lost all sense of thought. All he could do was to stare at the truth standing right before him.

“Seylum…!” Inaho whispered from panic and decided to run out onto the street the moment he saw the baron prepare his stance for an attack directed toward the princess.

The princess looked up at the human boy dashing out of his hiding place, and her eyes widened from shock. Inaho ignored her and pulled the trigger to shoot the baron, and the baron turned his head to look at Inaho from the unexpected enemy entering the situation. The bullet hit him in the torso and a loud shriek – much like the one from last night – echoed in the area. The cursed baron was in pain as the silver bullet scorched his insides.

“INAHO!” the princess’s voice yelled and a fire lit up in her eyes the moment the baron turned toward the human boy instead. “Get inside the store, Inaho!”

‘ _I’m sorry, but I can’t risk your life_ ,’ the brunet thought and aimed at Trillram again and pulled the trigger. The cursed creature dodged the bullet with ease and, abruptly, Inaho found himself standing face to face with the baron. The human boy had not had a chance to even think the thought of running away before the cursed creature had closed the distance between them and loomed over him. Inaho was in shock due to the creature’s quick movement.

“You…!” the cursed baron hissed and Inaho could see the vampire’s angry eyes glare at him through the dark visor on the helmet. “You shot me again, you damn rat!” Inaho took a step back and stared at the creature. Was this his time to die? “I WILL KILL YOU!”

Inaho lost his breath as he watched the vampire reach for him. Fear stuck the brunet out of nowhere now that he stood face to face with death. He could not run. His legs refused to obey his urgent wish to run away.

‘ _Yuki-nee…_ ’ he thought pitifully and closed his eyes to prepare for the cursed baron to kill him.

“Do not touch him!” the clear and angry voice of the princess echoed and a loud sound and shockwave made Inaho open his eyes. “How dare you!?” he watched the princess growl toward the baron who quickly raised himself from the ground on the other side of the four-lane road. The princess had attacked him before he had managed to kill Inaho, and had sent the baron flying across the intersection area. She still held the umbrella as if nothing had happened.

“Seylum!” Inaho exclaimed and took a step back as he met the smoldering eyes of a predator look back at him. The moment Asseylum looked at him her eyes softened once again.

“Please, run inside the store and wait for Miss Amifumi there,” the beautiful and serene voice chirped. “Your safety is compromised once she gets here.”

“But you-!” Inaho began to say, but was forcefully pushed away by her as the baron made an attempt to attack the princess.

Asseylum made a graceful twirl and met the attacking baron with an effortless kick to his stomach, which sent him flying across the area once again. Then she pulled her hood up over her head and folded the umbrella, before she dashed toward the disoriented baron.

“Seylum…!” Inaho’s halted mind woke up as he heard the rumble from far behind him, and, as he turned to look at the source of the sound, he saw the tank line up perfectly at the end of the road behind him. ‘ _You made it!_ ’ He turned the radio on and yelled: “INKO! HURRY!”

“ _AAAH! GEEEZ!_ ” he heard Inko answer with a stressed scream, and Inaho saw her lower the cannon of the tank toward the building like he had instructed her. “ _Everyone! Get out of the way!_ ”

Inaho ran inside the store and hid behind a shelf with candy bars, and a loud explosion shook the air as Inko fired the powerful cannon on the tank. Immediately it was followed by a second explosion and a loud rumble began to sound in the area as the building that had been hit began to topple over the intersection. Within the blink of an eye the glass windows to the convenience store exploded from the blast made by the crumbling building hitting the ground. The entire interior of the store shook along with the ground. Inaho fell over from the powerful quake and curled up on the floor as the candy rained down upon him, before the shelf followed and landed on top of him.

“Ugh!”

The air was knocked out of him and he was disoriented for a brief moment, but he quickly found his bearings and pushed the aluminum shelf off and got up. Dust covered the area and made it nearly impossible to see more than ten meters in front of him. Inaho hurried out onto the street after the building had finished collapsing. The dust made his throat irritated that he coughed violently for a couple of seconds, and he raised his arm over his mouth and nose to protect his airways the best he could. He hoped the wind of the storm would blow the dust away.

“SEYLUM!?” he yelled and heard his voice bounce around among the rubble around him.

“Damn … you…!” Inaho heard the baron’s voice from behind him, and the human boy turned around quickly to see the vampire crawl closer on all four. The baron’s legs and back seemed to be broken; his legs beneath the knees were dragged after him in an awkward angle, and his torso drooped against the ground. The creature’s breaths were strained as well as it gasped for breath in order to speak: “H-how … dare you…? Damn … human…”

“ _Inaho!? Are you all right!?_ ” he heard Inko say in the radio, but Inaho was not able to answer.

Vengeance flared up inside the brunet’s chest. It felt hot. It suffocated him. The baron in front of him was the one responsible for Okisuke’s death and the grief washing over his friends. The enemy was incapacitated from damage and Inaho was glad the vampire had not died yet.

‘ _I will end you…_ ’ the human boy thought as he stepped up to the cursed baron and aimed his gun toward the cursed enemy’s head. Without a word or hesitation, he pulled the trigger and heard the sweet screams of pain emit from his enemy’s throat. The vampire writhed on the ground and clutched its head as it rolled around from pain. The silver bullet had gone in through its head and straight down into the body.

“AAAGH!” the creature yelled in utter panic, and Inaho shot it again. Blood began to pool beneath the baron.

“I suspected you to survive the crumbling of the building somehow,” Inaho said with a voice still as devoid of emotion as ever despite his boiling anger and bloodlust. “You are a fourth or fifth generation after all.”

“AARGH! AAHHH!” the creature kept screaming with a throat filled with blood that made the creature’s voice gurgle as it screamed.

“You have no blood sacrifice at your side now. No one will save you,” the brunet spoke and began to back away from the vampire rolling around on the dusty ground. He released one of the grenades from his utility belt and pulled the pin, and tossed it next to the creature. “This is for my friend you killed yesterday. Die for him.”

After those words he turned around and ran as fast as he could. He jumped over the rubble and then hid behind something that seemed to have been a supporting concrete wall to hide from the blast. The grenade went off and released an inferno that swallowed the baron, whose screams became louder as he began to burn. The heat wave cooled down and Inaho looked out from behind the wall to watch the creature roll around on the ground from immense pain. Inaho hurried to run toward the truck, which stood further away and covered with dust. Luckily, the storm was picking up in strength and the wind dispersed the dust clouds enough to clear the area.

“Seylum!?” he exclaimed as he opened the truck door, but met the terrified eyes of Rayet instead.

“She’s not here,” the girl said and Inaho turned to look around at the rubble with hope of finding the princess.

“Help me find her,” the brunet said and hurried toward where he had seen her last time. “SEYLUM!”

Together with Rayet he began to search the area. If the princess was dead the war would never come to an end. It was not supposed to end like this. Inaho had been carefully calculating every second of the plan, but he had not expected the blood of the blond haired boy to be so powerful to make the cursed baron run faster than Inaho had estimated.

‘ _The truck was going in 70 kilometers per hour at first_ ,’ the brunet thought as he looked for the princess in the rubble. ‘ _And Rayet had to speed up in order to get away from him_ …’

“SEYLUM!” he yelled again, but there was no answer.

Panic grabbed a hold of him. He was slowly growing frantic. His eyes became less able to focus on searching as he got so stressed out about finding the princess who had saved his life. Inaho was supposed to sacrifice himself for her and his friends. The princess was supposed to be kept safe, and yet she had stepped out onto the battleground instead.

‘ _It was not supposed to end like this!_ ’ he thought as he regretted allowing her to participate in the fight. He was about to call for the princess again when he was interrupted by Rayet:

“I found her!”

Inaho did not even bother to look before he began running to where Rayet’s voice had come from. As he got closer he saw Rayet stand next to Asseylum who lay on the ground with eyes weakly open. Blood lay around her and the puddle kept spreading, stretching further away from her. She was seriously damaged.

“Seylum!”

Inaho sunk down on his knees in the blood and had to stop and think about what to do.

‘ _The blood!_ ’ he thought as he remembered the rations she had brought with her. Without hesitation he opened her coat and met a gruesome sight. Her stomach was crushed, and so was the case where the vials of blood were stored.

“Hold on,” Inaho told the princess and grabbed the field knife hanging in the utility belt. The princess tried to speak but her lungs were crushed as well, and no voice came forth. Inaho rolled up the sleeve to his left arm and then looked at the dying princess. “Forgive me if I’m about to do something you don’t want me to,” the brunet then said softly and pushed the knife against the underside of his arm. An ugly wound opened up and blood began pouring out from it. “Drink as much as you need,” he then said and held the cut against her lips.

The wound hurt; it stung horribly, but Inaho kept silent and refused to let the pain be shown on his face. He let her drink as much as she needed until she was strong enough to push his arm away. Rain began to fall from the sky and the area was shrouded in weak light as the heavy clouds obscured the world from sunlight.

“Help me,” Inaho told Rayet and was about to lift Asseylum from the ground, but the girl did not move. Inaho looked up at her and saw her glare at the princess. “Rayet!” With that, Rayet looked up at Inaho instead. Her eyes were glazed over from thought. “Help me,” Inaho ordered her, and, after a moment of hesitation, the girl took a hold of Asseylum’s legs.

Together they raised her up and carried her to the truck.

†††

“P-princess…!” Slaine mumbled as he watched his secretly beloved be carried away through binoculars. The boy was in shock and stared at the two who carried her to a truck and placed her inside it. “You…!”

Slaine had no idea what was going on. He had heard a loud explosion from somewhere and stopped on a hill to have a look at what was going on as a dust cloud had rose up from the city. A building had crumbled and it had been difficult to see what was going on in the dusty area, but the wind from the storm had blown the dust away. The moment the dust had begun to disperse he had seen the princess be carried away by a boy and a girl.

As the truck drove off Slaine dropped the binoculars to the ground and felt tears well up in his eyes.

‘ _The princess! She’s alive! Asseylum! My beloved Asseylum!_ ’

His heart was beating violently inside his ribcage. It beat so hard it hurt. Adrenaline was coursing through him as the shock of seeing her live spread in his mind and heart. How was it possible? She should have been dead. It was the reason to why the war had begun. Now she was in the hands of the humans, alive but hurt. They had taken her away with a truck Slaine recognized.

“I … gave my life for you two…” the boy said with a trembling breath. Slaine had recognized the ones carrying the princess. A sharp inhalation filled his lungs as anxiety exploded inside him, and he released a whimper before he yelled: “I GAVE MY LIFE FOR YOU!”

‘ _How can you take her away? I need her! The world needs her!_ ’

Slaine dropped the bag he was carrying and began running toward the destroyed area. Trillram was bound to be there since the truck he had chased had been at the same location. Trillram was probably somewhere in the rubble.

‘ _We need to save her!_ ’ he thought and ran as fast as his legs would carry him. He had to find Trillram. ‘ _Quickly, before they get away!_ ’

His slightly deluded mind made him stumble at times as he ran, and he scraped up his hands and knees each time he fell. Without any thought given about his knees and hands hurting, he kept running through the slowly intensifying rain. He ran faster than his legs would let him, and clumsily he reached the rubble and began searching for Trillram.

“Sir! Sir Trillram!” he yelled violently out of breath to make his voice heard through the rain that fell heavily around him. “Where are you!?”

He searched the wet area and finally stumbled over something horribly gruesome. A black body was crawling on the ground with broken legs and back. As he saw it Slaine released a frightened yelp and watched it move toward him by stretching out its hands and drag itself closer.

“Blood…” a raspy and quiet voice said, and Slaine realized it was Trillram.

“S-sir…!”

It was a gruesome sight to see Trillram pitifully crawl toward him in the rain. The cursed baron was nothing but a pile of burned flesh. His skin had shrunk and cracked the more Trillram moved, and the ashes mixed with the rain and dropped around him like black water drops. With desperation, Slaine fell onto his knees in front of the agonized baron while the rain continued soaking them both.

“S-sir! The humans have the princess! She’s alive!” he said with tears in his eyes. “The humans have taken her!” The creature grunted with pain. “You need blood so you can save her. She’s alive and if I could I would give you all of my blo-“

“I KNOW!” the cursed baron screamed with rage, and Slaine jumped and pulled away from him. He fell onto his behind instead and watched the scalded creature crawl closer. The wet smell of the scorched flesh was disgustingly strong. “And we are … going to kill … her!” Trillram continued.

Slaine’s mind halted entirely.

“Wh-what…?”

For a moment Slaine did not understand what the baron was saying. He could not possibly have heard him correctly.

“Are you … as much a fool as the rest of your … disgusting human comrades? If I let … her live, my whole clan … will be branded as traitors!”

‘ _What is he saying?_ ’ Slaine thought shocked and stared at the baron.

“Wh-what are you…?” the boy said but then went silent as he understood.

Slaine realized the mission they were on had something to do with Asseylum’s assassination, and it was not of the investigative kind. The girl Slaine had saved carried information about the assassination, and her running away had distressed the baron greatly. Slaine was sure of it.

‘ _That’s why you tried to hunt her down!_ ’ the boy thought. ‘ _She knows who tried to assassinate the princess!_ ’ It was so unbelievable he felt as though time stopped around him. None of his senses registered anything that happened around him, and his thoughts were running wild without inhibition. ‘ _You’re the one responsible for Asseylum’s assassination!_ ’

Trillram’s crackled hands grabbed Slaine’s stained and soaked uniform, and the blond felt the creature tug at him as the baron pulled himself up. A dark shadow swept over Slaine’s mind and he stared at empty air for a while as he realized the feeling of hate infested him. He felt Trillram’s fangs reach for his neck, and in that moment, something that had been made fragile from all the years of horror and terror, snapped in his mind.

‘ _You’re not immortal. Your luck has run out, vampire…_ ’

Trillram’s fangs punctured Slaine’s neck for the last time, and the boy did not even flinch. The pain was nothing compared to the hate kicking up a storm inside his chest, and his mind blanked out. The cursed baron took three greedy gulps – sucking out so much blood Slaine felt the left side of his body grow cold for a moment. It did not matter, and after the third gulp Trillram pulled away with a start and stared at Slaine with his damaged eyes.

“What have you … done!?” the baron asked with shock. “What have you…?”

“Since your body can’t break down compounds, it takes a while for your body to get rid of them in other ways,” Slaine said and focused his eyes on the shocked Trillram, who slumped down onto the ground – weakened. “You cursed creatures are sensitive to tainted blood.”

Trillram kept staring at him for a short moment before the baron understood what Slaine had done, and the cursed creature growled:

“You … drugged yourself!?”

“It’s my only weapon against your kind,” Slaine said quietly and got up from the ground with calm. “I found inhibitory drugs in an ambulance and decided to use them against you vampires. It seems to work…”

He knew full well something had broken inside him after the news Trillram had told him. The boy’s mind had become frail after living through all the years of horror, abuse and violations directed against his being. Now the oppressive effect of those years crashed through the frail wall in Slaine’s mind, shattering it to pieces. Never had the boy thought he could become this angry and filled with hatred. Slaine would punish anyone who threatened to hurt his secretly beloved, and this time he would save her even if it would cost him his life.

“I will give you enough time to regret what you have done,” the boy whispered coldly and grabbed the scissors he had found in the ambulance from his belt. The boy had taken them with him as he had thought about using them as a possible weapon if he lost his gun. No other sharp objects had been found and the scissors had been better than nothing.

With the sharp scissors in hand Slaine straddled Trillram’s chest and stared at the defenseless baron who had been nearly invincible moments earlier. Trillram realized Slaine had lost something that was considered fundamental to a living creature, and fear was shown on the scorched face staring back at the boy. Mercilessly Slaine leaned forward and pushed the scissors into Trillram’s throat, and began cutting through it as the helpless vampire screamed from horror and limply tried to fight the blond away. The human boy had never felt as murderous as he did now. He had never tasted revenge, and now he learned it was the sweetest thing he had ever tasted. It was cold and reckless – and liberating.

In that rainy moment of lost sanity, Slaine gave a vow he would find his secretly beloved and bring her back. The human boy would save the cursed princess from Humanity’s claws at all cost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Finally; the first fight!
> 
> -Finally; the orange theme!
> 
> -Finally; a princess who goes into action!
> 
> -Finally; someone lost his sanity!
> 
> 8D


	8. Cursed Knight in Pursuit

“Nao!” he heard his sister yell as the truck came through the security and stopped in front of the amphibious assault ship waiting in the harbor. “You made it!”

His sister’s voice was filled with relief and joy to see her little brother was unhurt from the daring mission he had been on. Inaho hurriedly stepped out of the vehicle into the pouring rain, and Yuki’s expression turned horrified as she saw the blood covered orange safety uniform.

“Nao! Are you all right!?” she asked with panic and hurried up to him. “There’s blood everywhere!”

“I’m fine,” Inaho said abruptly and did not even look at her. He was in a hurry. “It’s not my blood,” the boy continued and walked past his sister. He had no time for her at the moment.

“Then is someone els-!?” Yuki was about to ask, but Inko and Calm interrupted her as they got out of the truck as well.

“Everyone’s fine,” Calm said with a pale face to his former instructor.

Inaho was certain Yuki noticed something was off with everyone considering they all were deeply troubled and shaken. Inko and Calm had been shocked to see the hurt cursed princess when Inaho and Rayet had picked them up on their way to the harbor. The news of her being among them had hit them hard, and even if Inaho had forbidden them to speak about the princess still being alive, they still had difficulty of concealing their shock. The other cursed girl – Rayet – had been completely silent until now, and something did not feel right with her.

“Where is the captain of this ship!?” the boy yelled and walked toward a small crowd of people who wore officer uniforms standing hidden from the rain inside one of the cargo holds on the dock. The gates were wide open and he strode into the sheltering building. “It’s highly urgent I speak with the captain!”

The crowd of officers turned around to look at who was yelling for the captain in such an impudent manner, and Inaho’s eyes immediately fell on a woman who had the heaviest gilded shoulders in the entire group of officers; four golden stripes rested on her shoulder boards. The UN captain had a stern look in her eyes as she looked at the boy walking toward her with hasty steps.

“Considering the dust and blood covering you, I take it you are Inaho Kaizuka, Warrant Officer Yuki Kaizuka’s younger brother? She told me about what you were up to,” the captain explained. “The mind behind the reckless plan which saved several lives. Are you hurt in any way?”

Inaho had no time for her petty talk. The cursed princess was wounded and needed immediate care. What the captain would do with her was a mystery, but the princess needed whatever kind of help they could offer her. If nothing else, Inaho would sacrifice his own blood to the princess in order for her to stop the war.

“Forgive me but we have no time for small talk, Captain,” Inaho said and stopped two steps away from her. “I need to speak with you immediately – in private.”

He stared at her without blinking to let her know how serious he was. There was no way he would accept her dismissing him, and so he glared at her while she was making up her mind of how to answer the boy. To his relief the captain finally ordered the others away to prepare the ship for leaving the harbor. Once Inaho and the captain had been left alone the brunet said frankly but silently:

“I have the cursed princess of Vers in the back of the truck. She is wounded and needs immediate care.”

The captain stared at him with eyebrows slowly rising from surprise while the rain pattered loudly against the aluminum roof of the cargo hold.

“What are you saying?” the captain asked and sounded slightly angered. Inaho was sure she thought he was trying to waste her time. “The cursed princess was assassina-“

“She is in the back of the truck. She is alive but hurt,” Inaho repeated with frustration. ‘ _She needs help!_ ’ he thought distressed while maintaining his emotionlessly sincere expression. “She needs to contact the emperor of Vers and tell him to stop this war.”

The captain stared at him with disbelief and the brunet stared back into her deep silvery eyes. Inaho could understand why she was hesitating in believing him, but it frustrated him nonetheless. Stress hormones were making his sympathetic nervous system rage and tear at his patience. His heart was beating violently, he experienced tunnel vision and dilated pupils, he was breathing faster and trembled, and his skin was damp with sweat. He was no way close to calm, but despite that he knew he probably seemed calmer on the outside than he felt on the inside.

“If you don’t believe me, then come and look for yourself,” the brunet said and turned his back to the captain. Inaho had no time for honoring the captain and such behavior was considered unnecessary by him. He was sure the captain would reprimand him in the future, but he could not care less about it.

‘ _Help Seylum!_ ’

The captain followed him out into the rain – probably out of curiosity of what had made the boy so sure of the princess being in the back of the truck. No matter what her reasons to follow him were Inaho sensed calm slowly soothe the stress.

When they reached the truck Inaho opened the door to the back of it and showed its contents to the captain. The woman’s eyes widened seeing the blonde and beautiful girl lie on the truck floor with blood pooling around her. The princess’s eyes opened at the sound of the door opening, and she weakly turned her eyes toward the captain.

“This…” the captain said with shock.

“She was somehow caught in the blast made by the HE shell we used to destroy a building. She needs to speak to her grandfather,” the brunet said and stared at the captain, waiting for an action. “She needs our help so she can help us stop this war.”

A man came running out onto the aft of the ship, yelling with great distress:

“Air raid! The enemy is sending out planes for an air raid on the area!”

“Get the truck into the cargo hold!” the captain ordered Rayet who was sitting behind the wheel, and Inaho got into the truck to support the princess together with the captain. The captain began immediately calling out orders through the small radio she carried in her belt, and soon an air raid siren began to sound in the area.

†††

Nausea was welling up in his throat as he sat in Nilokeras’ cockpit, flying back toward V.E.S. Tharsis. Slaine had barely managed to get away from the air raid, which had hit the city moments ago to destroy it and raze it to the ground. He had found shelter in a bunker located in the basement of a nearby building, and was now flying back toward the ship in bad weather. The airport had not been attacked, probably due to the Versian aircrafts located there while their pilots roamed the streets of Shinawara to search for humans and wipe them out.

The storm had picked up in strength to the point where the wind tugged at the aircraft, and the rain was falling heavily. The ocean had been stirred as well, with waves forcing all the ships at sea to heel and rock. The landing would be difficult with the flight deck moving due to the waves, and the boy was frightened. The anemia was clouding his judgment and so were the drugs he had taken. To boost his mind’s capability to think and focus, Slaine had amped up the oxygen supply in the mask covering his mouth. It helped him somewhat to handle the impossible situation he was in right now.

Someone had to listen to his news about the princess still being alive, and that was his reason of tossing his original plan away about saving himself. He had to get help in saving his secretly beloved since he alone could do nothing. There was no such thing as a one man army; it was merely fiction, and if there truly were someone as powerful as that it surely was not him. Someone who knew what to do had to hear what he had to tell.

“This is Slaine Troyard piloting Nilokeras, calling the traffic control on V.E.S. Tharsis,” he said into the radio in the oxygen mask, and took a deep breath.

“ _This is V.E.S. Tharsis answering Nilokeras. What is your status?_ ” a female voice answered.

“B-baron Trillram has been lost. I am low on fuel and have physical complications that make me feel faint,” Slaine said but suddenly remembered he could not be honest about what had happened to the baron and why.

‘ _Wait…_ ’ he thought and felt cold sweat breaking out over his skin. He was growing more nervous. ‘ _Trillram was on board Cruhteo’s ship. Why? Could it be because Trillram was working with Cruhteo behind Saazbaum’s back?_ ’ Slaine thought with paranoia growing in his mind.

The lineages of the cursed creatures had been started from the first generation vampires; from the ones who had fallen for the curse after the excavation in Russia. The only one of these first generation vampires that was still alive was Rayregalia Vers Rayvers – the one who had established the Empire of Vers decades ago. The remaining members of the other lineages, second generations and below, answered to Rayvers now after their masters had mysteriously died.

Trillram had been of the cursed lineage of Saazbaum, just three ranks below Saazbaum himself, who was a second generation vampire. It was suspicious why Trillram had been with the third generation vampire Cruhteo instead, who was of a different lineage than Saazbaum. ‘ _Are they in this assassination plan together? I recall Trillram was invited to the Cruhteo fleet as a guest_ ,’ the boy thought. ‘ _I can’t tell anyone about the princess until I know who is responsible for the assassination attempt!_ ’

Slaine was hesitant of if he was supposed to land on the ship, but then he remembered it was the only way for him to contact Asseylum’s grandfather to let him know the truth about his granddaughter. If there was someone who Slaine could trust in this maddening situation, it was Rayregalia Vers Rayvers who loved his granddaughter beyond anything.

“Sir Trillram was caught in the air raid while bravely working toward fulfilling his mission,” Slaine continued with a lie. “I ask for permission to land and return his aircraft.”

A bad taste spread in his mouth, and it was neither the taste of the dry ration packs nor the lack of toothbrush and toothpaste. Trillram did not deserve such kind words, but since Slaine had no plan on what to do at the moment he had to do whatever he could to protect the princess. She was better off with the cursed creatures on V.E.S. Tharsis believing she was dead, which meant Slaine should not draw any attention to him and stay low.

“ _You have permission to land, Soldier Troyard. Keep in mind we have strong waves right now and the flight deck is wet_ ,” the female voice said in the radio.

“Y-yes, ma’am,” Slaine mumbled and felt nausea well up in his throat again. He quickly forced it back down.

He had never landed on a flight deck of a carrier before in real life, and especially not during bad weather while he was anemic and drugged with inhibitory drugs. How was he supposed to land in a state like that, and in weather like this? All he knew was he had to come down in the correct angle and have the tailhook of the plane catch onto the arresting wires, which would slow down his speed enough to stop the aircraft on the short runway. The boy was terrified as he lowered the plane’s altitude and saw the aft of the mighty V.E.S. Tharsis come into view.

‘ _The lights…_ ’ he thought and looked for the guiding lights to see in what angle he was in.

The ship was equipped with a Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System to guide the pilots into the right kind of angle to land on the flight deck. Slaine had to look out for a steady ember light which showed he was in the right angle to land. Green meant he came in from too high, and red meant he was coming in from too low. To his horror the lights he saw fluctuated between green, ember and red; the ship was heeling too violently for him to make any sense of the angle he was coming in from.

“ _Lower your altitude, Nilokeras. You are too high up_ ,” he heard a landing signals officer – also called LSO – say in the radio.

“Y-yes, sir!”

Slaine was grateful to hear the voice of someone who would guide him with the difficult task to land onto a landing deck in a storm. It was the voice of someone who had directed pilots like this for decades, and now Slaine had the luxury of having this cursed officer guide him. The boy gripped the steering tighter and followed the LSO’s command, and lowered the altitude.

“ _Stay calm_ ,” the LSO said. “ _I got the information that you have never landed on a carrier before, let alone during a storm_.”

“N-no. sir,” Slaine mumbled nervously. “I have attempted it in a simulator, but I have never done it in real life, and never tried it during storm,” the boy continued with a whimper threatening to slip from between his lips.

“ _I will guide you. Stay calm_ ,” the voice said soothingly. “ _You are coming in too low now. Little higher_.”

Slaine took a deep breath and did as he was told. The pulse was hammering in his ears and he barely heard the LSO’s orders in the radio. The boy was so terrified he was ready to vomit from the horrible nausea pushing in his throat. The flight deck was closing in and Slaine knew it was too late to regret what he was doing.

“ _You are too high now!_ ” the LSO said urgently as Slaine had nearly reached the flight deck. “ _Lower, lower!_ ”

Slaine hurried to react to the order and felt the aircraft’s landing gear smash against the flight deck. The entire aircraft shook with protest while sparks flew, and no breaking sensation was felt due to the tailhook missing the arresting wires. Slaine quickly pushed the engine power to full to keep the aircraft in the air as it rolled off the flight deck’s edge to make a second try.

He circled the carrier and got guidance for his second try. Slaine did his utmost to keep an eye on the ember light and listen to the LSO’s guidance, but he missed the wires for a second time. No matter how hard he concentrated on landing his anemic body and drugged mind did not let him focus properly. He had one try left before he had to refuel, and he was unsure if a plane would be sent up to refuel Nilokeras in the air now that a storm was raging on the sea. If he did not nail this third try he would panic.

He was too exhausted for this kind of horror.

“ _A little lower. Look at the lights and try to read out the pattern of the ship’s heeling and find a middle ground_ ,” he heard the LSO say, and Slaine did as told. He stared at the lights to find a pattern in them; he counted in his mind for how long the red, ember and green light was shown each. Once he found a pattern where the red and green light was shown for the same amount of time with the ember light flashing between them, he went in for the third landing try. “ _That’s it. You are coming in perfectly now. Stay calm._ ”

Slaine decided to listen to the LSO entirely now and trust the guidance he got. As the aft came rushing toward him he felt tears in his eyes and gripped the steering hard enough the bones in his fingers ached.

‘ _Dad!_ ’ he thought pathetically and chocked down a whimper; he wanted to burst out crying but he had to stay strong.

“ _That’s it!_ ” the LSO soothed, and within seconds Slaine felt the violent landing hit the aircraft a third time. He pushed the engine power up again in case he would miss the arresting wires, but to his surprise the aircraft was quickly brought to a stop. “ _Congratulations. You have landed_ ,” the LSO confirmed.

Slaine took a deep breath and trembled violently. Finally the terrifying ordeal was done and he was safe back on the ship. He pulled down the engine power and guided the aircraft away from the landing strip to the side of the ship, to where the flight deck crew signed him to steer it. The crew was quick to chain the aircraft down onto the deck, and the moment it was secured Slaine opened the canopy and pulled the mask off. He was so weak and nauseous from anemia and fright that he crawled out of the aircraft with weak limbs, barely making it out of the canopy. He put his feet onto the small ladder leading down from the aircraft and the moment he took the second step down, he slipped. He was too exhausted to reach for something to grab, and he accepted he would fall onto the deck like the pathetic child he was.

Instead he landed in someone’s arms. It felt comfortable for a brief moment as the boy was finally allowed to lie down and let his tense muscles unwind. His body relaxed so much it refused to listen to his orders and Slaine gave in to its demands.

“It’s the blood sacrifice. He’s exhausted and possibly wounded. Get him to medical care!” he heard the flight deck crewmember holding him, yell into a radio.

‘ _Thank you…_ ’ the boy thought and found no energy to stand on his own. ‘ _I’m so tired…_ ’

†††

Inaho walked down the corridor, finally dressed in new and dry clothes. The uniform he wore was a soldier’s uniform, and the heavy obligation the uniform brought with it did not sit well with the brunet.

He had returned from helping Captain Magbaredge and the others getting the cursed princess into the sick bay. The princess’s handmaiden had been quick to take control, and it surprised Inaho such a little girl knew how to save an undead life. Then again, she was probably much older than Inaho was considering she had stopped growing the moment she had been cursed. There was nothing more the boy could do to help the princess, and he had decided to find his friends and check up on them, and to speak to Rayet as well.

He found the gang among the refugees in the cargo hold where he had left them. Nina had been overjoyed to see her friends be back from their mission, which she had not participated in due to her not being safe to bring along. Her grades and practical tests had been of the lowest when it came to military combat, but she was fairly good in the technical department when it came to systems and how to use them. Inaho, Inko and Calm were good at both, but Inaho was slightly better with tactics while Calm had shown great knowledge in engineering and machinery.

“Inaho,” Inko said with relief and looked up as her friend walked up to them. “How is she?”

“I don’t know yet,” Inaho said and looked around the evacuees. “I heard we are picking up more refugees in Miyasaki, before we leave for South Korea to regroup with the UN forces waiting there due to our important cargo,” the brunet then continued.

“In Miyasaki?” Calm asked confused. “But isn’t the war in Tokyo and around that area?”

“The war is spreading,” Nina said. “I heard the officers talk at the harbor, and they said the entire southern half of Japan is threatened, and that the entire country will soon be enveloped in war. Apparently the refugees we are picking up in Miyasaki are some important politicians or something.”

Calm let out an exacerbated groan and sighed.

“The rich are saved while the commoners are left to survive on their own…” the boy said and sounded angry.

Inaho decided to ignore Calm’s remark. No matter what the boy thought Inaho knew politicians were important in a war like this, which was based on politics. Even if all life was important, altruistic thinking had no place in a war like this, the brunet thought. Some people’s lives had to be prioritized; especially those who could help solving this madness that threatened to take the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. It had nothing to do with who had money and whose life had more value; it had to do with who had skills and abilities to stop this war and save as many as possible _because_ all life was important.

‘ _You use grease to clean up grease. To stop this political war you have to use politics_ ,’ he thought.

“I have things I need to do,” Inaho said instead and looked at Rayet: “Come with me.”

His friends got troubled expressions to their faces as they looked at Inaho and then at the cursed creature. None of them were fond of the idea of Inaho being her blood sacrifice. If they were to decide Rayet would have been thrown off the ship without a second thought. Inaho knew it was because they were quick to act on affects rather than think logically, which put more pressure on the brunet than he already carried.

‘ _How broad will my shoulders turn out to be?_ ’ he thought as he showed Rayet to the stairway on the ship’s starboard side. ‘ _Can I fight alone like this?_ ’

“About what happened,” Inaho said and turned to look at the girl, who closed the watertight door to let them talk in private. The brunet sat down on the iron stairs and studied her: She was not hungry. “I know you know who were responsible for the missiles directed at the princess,” he then said, and the girl turned her gaze away immediately.

“It doesn’t matter now,” she said. “I just want to avenge my father…”

“Do you blame the pncess for his death?” the brunet asked and felt somewhat worried.

The cursed girl’s situation was not difficult to figure out. She had said her father had been murdered by the cursed baron, and that she wanted to avenge his death. At the same time, Trillram had been after her because she knew something he had been afraid would spread.

It was most likely this girl’s father who had been responsible for the missile attack on the princess, and had probably committed such a mindless crime under the orders from someone else. Trillram had been sent to clean up the breadcrumbs leading to the one who had ordered the assassination in order to conceal their identity, and, whoever it was, was a person eager to start a war for some reason. Rayet had been the breadcrumb the cursed baron had not been able to clean away.

What Inaho worried about was Rayet’s reaction during their mission. The moment she had seen the princess’s true identity after Trillram had been killed, the girl had stared at the princess with shock and resentment mixing together. Earlier, as they had been talking in the classroom at school, the girl had come off as a silent individual. Now, however, her eyes were flaring with black fire. Something had changed; her true personality came through, and she turned out to be a hot-spirited character.

“Why do you ask such a thing?” the cursed girl asked silently.

“Because I’m worried you will fulfill your father’s mission and kill the princess,” Inaho said bluntly. “The moment I saw you look at the princess and realize who she truly was I became worried about what you would decide to do in the future.”

Rayet looked up at the human boy with piercing eyes. There certainly was hate growing in them, and Inaho wondered where the girl would direct all those powerful emotions rushing around in her undead heart and mind. He feared she would direct them against the princess.

“I don’t bear a grudge toward her personally,” the girl said and seemed honest, but there was something else hiding behind those words the cursed girl refused to say. “What will you do? Keep her a secret?”

“Inko and Calm already knows, and so does the captain of this ship. No one else should know about her,” the brunet said and thought. “In an extreme situation where you don’t know when the enemy will come, you can’t count on people to act rationally.”

“Like your friend back there,” Rayet said and nodded toward the watertight door. “He is hell-bent on getting rid of me simply because he doesn’t like me for what I am.”

Inaho nodded.

“He’s hotheaded, and I doubt he’s the only one like that on board this ship. If it got out Seylum is a cursed creature, and the cursed princess at that, I don’t know what would happen to her,” he said and saw Rayet raise her eyebrows.

“You’re kind, huh?” she asked. “For being worried about the enemy.”

Inaho stared at her and decided to emphasize what he thought about this situation:

“She’s not the enemy. The people who tried to kill her are, however.”

That did not sit well with Rayet. The cursed girl glared at the human boy with a warning. Inaho knew he had stepped on something sensitive when calling her father an enemy, but that was the truth. The man had been the enemy who had been a part of starting this senseless war.

“If what Seylum says is true, we need to safely deliver her to the UN headquarters,” the brunet continued.

Rayet scoffed.

“You want me to help you protect her?” she asked, and Inaho nodded.

“I am your blood sacrifice, but I will not lie down and let myself be kicked around by a master,” Inaho said and stared sternly at the girl. “Since I’m offering myself rather than being ordered to – unlike the blood sacrifice who saved you – I would think of it as fair that you work for the blood I give you. We sacrifice ourselves for each other since we need each other.”

“Like symbiotic creatures?” she asked. “If we have a deal I decide you are not allowed to sacrifice your blood to her ever again. This deal means your blood belongs to me and me alone.”

Inaho nodded.

“And you help me protect Seylum until she is delivered to the UN,” he said.

Rayet sighed from annoyance and pushed her hands into the pockets of her sweater.

“Fine, but I make no guarantees. If I think we are in danger, I will reveal everything.” The cursed girl pulled up her hood once again and opened the watertight door. “All vampires are enemies.”

With those words left ringing in Inaho’s ears, the girl left the boy in the stairway and disappeared from his view.

‘ _In other words, you have trust issues after a vampire killed your cursed father, and tried to kill you as well_ ,’ the brunet concluded and took a deep breath and leaned his head back to rest his eyes. After he had sacrificed blood for both Rayet and Seylum, a new kind of tiredness had swept over him once the stress hormones had subsided. He wondered if this was the same kind of tiredness the blood sacrifice had felt in the truck that morning. ‘ _You have probably sacrificed more blood than me and yet you can move about. That’s pretty impressive; I’m exhausted already…_ ’

His body felt heavy.

†††

The familiar sounds of a ship in motion made him company in the silent cabin. He had come back from the sick bay an hour ago, where Cruhteo had interrogated him about what had happened to Trillram. Slaine had been surprised about learning that Cruhteo had no idea of who had ordered the air raid on the area. When Trillram had told Slaine about the air raids Slaine had believed they had been ordered by Cruhteo since Shinawara had fallen into Cruhteo’s ownership; the city was his territory now. This meant someone else had directed an attack on Cruhteo’s territory and, by that, insulted the prideful man. To answer the insult Cruhteo had sent out the cursed knight, Sir Vlad, to render the territory useless for whoever had ordered the raid. The cursed count had also ordered the knight to kill the humans who were escaping from Shinawara, to avenge the princess’s death. The boy had hesitated about believing that Cruhteo was the culprit of the assassination, but he had no way to be sure if he was suspecting the wrong person.

‘ _Is he simply exploiting the princess’s death to justify his personal interest this war?_ ’

Slaine was still hesitant of whom he could talk to about the cursed princess still being alive, and for a moment he had lost his self-discipline and nearly told Cruhteo about the sighting in the city. The boy was so desperate to save her that his mind spun in every direction, and had done so during Cruhteo’s interrogation. Luckily he had managed to stop himself from spilling everything to Cruhteo, and in turn earned a cruel hit to his stomach as punishment for a misunderstanding between the two. To the boy’s relief, the cursed count had not suspected what Slaine had actually been about to tell him, and interpreted Slaine’s clumsy words as a ridiculous wish to avenge the princess’s death. The man had also verbally reprimanded the boy for an unsightly look in his eyes, and Slaine had been confused about what his lord had meant; the cruel Cruhteo had never reacted to the look in Slaine’s eyes before, and Slaine had been left feeling confused.

Slaine had gotten blood transfusion in the sick bay, due to his anemic state, to keep him alive now that he had returned to the ship. He had been ordered to continue with the ways of a blood sacrifice the moment the boy had recovered from exhaustion, and now he lied in bed to rest while trying to figure out what to do.

‘ _I can’t trust anyone except Asseylum’s grandfather… How do I contact him?_ ’ the boy thought.

There was a satellite telephone in the cursed count’s private conference room. It was directly connected to the Vers Empire’s royal palace, which Cruhteo used to update the emperor or get new orders from him. If Slaine could get his hands on that telephone for just a minute he would be able to communicate his news to the emperor with no risk of someone listening to the call. The problem was that his access to the phone was blocked by a locked door.

‘ _How do I get in there?_ ’ the boy thought and took a deep breath. He had never felt this exhausted before; his body felt as heavy as lead and a dull headache was pounding in his skull. ‘ _I’m so sleepy…_ ’

Slaine was worried for the princess’s safety now that Cruhteo had sent out a cursed knight to track down the humans and attack them, and the boy knew he had to act quickly. He pushed himself up from the bed and reached for the small bottle of pills he had found in the ambulance, and stared at them.

‘ _Diazepam…_ ’ he read on the label on the bottle, and sighed.

The medication would be a great help both in protecting himself from the greedy vampires, but also to keep his mind silent from disorienting thoughts, allowing him to think properly. He knew he had been through worse trauma than he could face alone, and the medication served to help him stay calm and confront horror with a tiny bit more logic. If he faced his fears on his own his mind would erupt in distorted thoughts rather than let him think rationally.

‘ _I can’t trust a mind like that…_ ’ he thought and popped the bottle open to take a five milligram pill.

He swallowed it down with water and lay down again to let it do what it was supposed to do; calm him down. He knew it was unsafe to experiment with the pills, but right now he did not care the slightest. All he could think about was the princess, and the stress and anxiety from those thoughts threatened to delude his mind entirely from being able to perform with reasonable thinking. Once the pill had taken effect he got up from his bed and opened the cabin door to step out into the corridor. He had to keep Cruhteo under some kind of surveillance and grab the first chance he got to sneak into the conference room.

†††

It was late in the evening when they reached the city of Miyasaki to rest and resupply. The politicians and their families had been brought on board the moment the ship had arrived to port. Inaho and his friends had been put into overalls and ordered to work. Inko and Nina both wore military green overalls for soldiers, Calm and Rayet had the honor to wear blue overalls for the engine crew and mechanics, and Inaho had stuck with the orange theme by settling for the overalls for deck crew. They were out on the harbor dock and helped the crew load the provision from the city onto the ship’s cargo holds, which were open with the access ramp lowered to the dock in order to let trucks and crew load the ship quickly.

“It’s unusual to have you offer help, Calm,” Inaho heard Inko say somewhere behind him, and Nina’s giggle followed:

“Yeah, the guy who always ditches the military drills back at school,” she said, and when Inaho turned around to fetch another box of rations and load it on board the back of a truck, he saw the dark blond haired girl point a teasing finger at the other boy.

“That was before!” Calm said seriously but with a juvenile tone to his voice. “Now I’ll do whatever I can to help wipe out the cursed creatures.”

Inaho paid them no mind; he did what he had been assigned to do despite feeling a lingering exhaustion from blood loss slow him down. No one except his friends knew he had supplied two cursed creatures with blood that day, and Inaho wished to continue keeping it a secret. He should have been in bed getting a well needed rest, but working like this gave him a sense of distraction and purpose. Working like this freed him from the worry about the princess’s recovery and the stress from not being able to stay in his previously normal high school life. Abrupt changes like these had always taken a toll on him; he disliked when things he was used to were altered.

A scream startled him and his friends along with everyone else on the dock. It came from somewhere among the large and abandoned cargo containers further away and was a distressed scream from a man.

“Inaho…” the brunet heard Rayet say next to him and Inaho turned to look at her. She had a meaningful look in her eyes as if she knew what had happened, and the brunet nodded.

“Do you need blood?” he asked and saw her shake her head.

“Not now, but I might later if you ask me to fight,” she said.

“Fight,” the brunet answered without a second thought. “I need your strength.”

Everyone seemed to have understood what was happening within seconds: A cursed creature had found them. People around screamed and ran toward the ship as fast as they could, and it did not take long for the captain to learn about what was going on.

“All hands, battle stations!” the voice of their captain yelled over the area through speakers, and the unarmed soldiers on the dock hurried toward the ship to arm themselves while those on guard duty readied their weapons. “Prepare the ship for departure immediately!” the captain continued.

It would take a while to release the moorings and start the ship’s engine, but they had little time for that. A cursed creature was fast – too fast for the humans – Inaho knew the crew needed all the time they could get to get everything on the ship running. Conventional guns with silver bullets would not do if their attacker was a strong vampire similar to the cursed baron the children had fought earlier that day, and none of the soldiers Inaho saw had anything more on them than guns. The soldiers needed something more than guns to buy time for the ship to get out to sea.

‘ _We need to do something!_ ’ the Inaho thought and looked at his friends. He saw the fire of battle in Calm’s eyes and a flickering determination in Inko’s. Nina looked terrified, and Rayet’s eyes… Her eyes were burning with hellfire. She was ready to fight. All Inaho needed to do was to release her from the invisible leash by telling her what he needed her to do.

“Get inside the ship!” Inaho told his friends, and all five of them began running toward the access ramp.

An unpleasant laughter of a predator echoed in the close proximity and Inaho saw a human soldier be brutally thrown past him and his friends. The soldier collided with the side of a fork-lift truck that stood abandoned, and the impact was so great the soldier’s head was crushed, sending blood and brain matter flying around the fork-lift.

“What do we do!?” Inko yelled with panic as she ran as fast as she could next to Inaho.

Inaho had to think quickly. The soldiers behind him were screaming for dear life, which meant the attacking vampire was about as strong as the baron they had faced that day; no one had managed to stop the cursed creature from murdering the humans who dared to attack it. The screams would have quieted down if the cursed creature was under some kind of control.

 “Can you delay them?” the brunet asked the cursed girl while growing out of breath as he ran. The anemia was making itself reminded; his body had trouble with properly oxygenating itself as it should.

“I can try,” the girl said and turned around immediately. “I can’t hold them back for too long, though!” Inaho heard her continue before she disappeared behind him.

Soldiers came running out of the ship, armed to their teeth with guns and rifles. Inaho knew it was pointless to fight conventionally against a cursed creature of strength that could be compared to the cursed baron they had fought earlier that day. The soldiers’ silver bullets would cause pain on the cursed creature that could render the target paralyzed, but the problem was they had to hit an incredibly fast-moving target. The human soldiers were probably throwing away their lives. Rayet would not stand a chance for too long either, which meant Inaho had to come up with a plan quickly.

“Once you get onto the ship,” the brunet told his friends as he had thought about what materials they had at hand on board the ship. “Grab a fire extinguisher each. I need your help!”

“There’s no fire, Inaho!” Calm complained while his blood was boiling from the urge to fight. “What do we do with fire extinguish-?”

Inaho did not give him a chance to finish. There was no time for arguing and he asked his friends to do as he said and trust him. They had to work as a team. As they got on board the ship and entered the open cargo deck, Inko and Calm did as Inaho had ordered them while Inaho grabbed a handheld communication radio from a radio panel on a wall. Nina hurried back to the bridge.

“Captain, order all of your men back into the ship,” he said and waited for the captain’s reply.

Magbaredge answered with a stressed voice:

“ _We have no time for this, Kaizuka Junior!_ ”

“Exactly!” Inaho stressed. “Get all your people back on board to guard the access ramp to the cargo holds, and solely focus on making the ship ready to sail!”

Inko and Calm gathered around him, both of them holding fire extinguishers in hand and waited for further instructions. Inaho had to persuade the captain to call her troops back before any more of them would die a useless death in the hands of the cursed creature. The screams from the dock were horrifying enough to make the boy’s hairs stand on end and put incredible stress on his tired nerves.

“ _What are you going to do?_ ” the captain asked as she had understood Inaho had something planned, and Inaho pulled the safety pin from Calm’s fire extinguisher and answered:

“Cool down a heated situation.”

With that the brunet hurried to one of the military trucks parked in the cargo hold to find a flare gun. There was no time to get to the armory to get a proper gun, and a gun would not make much difference anyway. The boy simply needed something that would attract the cursed creature’s attention, and a flare gun filled that purpose perfectly. Inaho took the gun and an extra flare for it.

“Inaho, what are you doing?” Inko asked distressed.

“I need to attract the vampire’s attention,” the brunet answered and checked the flare gun was loaded. “I need you to do as I say.”

“Show us what to do, old buddy!” Calm said determined despite fear flickering behind his confident and battle-hungry eyes.

When they hurried back out onto the dock they met soldiers on their way back toward the ship. They were backing away slowly while listening to their trapped comrades’ screams on the other side of the abandoned cargo containers. The captain had listened to Inaho’s demand, but lives had already been lost.

The brunet and his friends ran into a narrow corridor between two cargo containers, and the corridor faced the edge of the dock where the drop to the water was about one meter. Inaho told them to hide behind the container corners and wait for him.

“Once I return the vampire will be chasing after me. Spray it with the extinguishers and force it over the edge of the dock,” Inaho told them.

“What? Are you insane? What will that do!?” Calm burst out as a nameless soldier screamed somewhere behind them in another corridor between cargo containers.

“I noticed the ship’s cargo holds had mainly fire extinguishers containing carbon dioxide gas while I was walking around. The gas cools when it expands and becomes so cold it gives cold burns, and I believe the vampires are highly sensitive to cold,” Inaho said and watched Calm get a satisfied grin on his face. “And the sea is pretty cold this time of the year.”

The brunet quickly briefed them on what to do before he hurried to find Rayet. He ran through the maze-like corridors between the cargo containers and nearly stumbled over dead soldiers and slipped on what was left of others. Inaho found the cursed girl in the middle of a fight with the enemy. She was trying to find an opening in the vampire’s attacks by constantly attacking him to prevent him from attacking back, but she seemed to lack knowledge on how to fight in hand-to-hand combat as the enemy creature easily evaded her attacks. Inaho made a silent note in his mind about training her once all this was over – if they survived the fight – and hurried to assist her.

“HEY!” he yelled and raised the flare gun toward the enemy who was busy trying to get a hold of a slithering Rayet. The cursed girl was clumsily trying to dodge the creature’s claws due to her energy running out, and she looked paler than moments earlier.

‘ _The attacker is a knight_ ,’ the brunet concluded from the way the cursed creature was dressed in a grey uniform, different to the one the cursed baron had worn. ‘ _A sixth generation for sure_.’

“Hm?” the cursed knight hummed and stopped to stare at Inaho, immediately losing interest in Rayet; he grabbed her by her overalls and threw her down the corridor behind him. “Well, well,” he then continued amused, clearly looking down on Inaho as his opponent.

“Come on then,” Inaho said and stared at the cursed knight while steadying his aim. “I’m your opponent now.”

“A human child armed with a flare gun?” the cursed knight said with a condescending sneer playing on his lips. “What do you think that thing you are holding will accomplish?”

“It might further heat up your glowing hatred toward me for being human,” the brunet answered and pulled the trigger.

A red flare was shot toward the cursed knight, but the enemy quickly dodged it and scoffed with a sneer still playing on his lips.

“You really do want to die that badly?” the knight asked, and without answering Inaho began running toward where his friends were waiting for him.

Inaho knew the cursed knight would catch up to him within the blink of an eye, but he had to trust Rayet and her wish to protect her own blood sacrifice from being taken away from her. Inaho had the feeling she had a strong sense of ownership when it came to her blood sacrifice, and would not let any cursed creature take him away from her if she could help it. Inaho was sure of it.

As he had predicted Rayet was quick to assist the boy whenever the cursed knight had decided to stop the games and capture him. Inaho did not look back, but heard how the cursed knight growled behind him after Rayet had attacked him to stop him from getting a hold of the boy, and the brunet kept running as fast as his legs allowed him. This had to be done quickly; Inaho was in no shape to actually fight, and Rayet could not hold out much longer.

He rounded a corner and saw the edge of the dock come into sight. The end of the corridor – where his friends waited for him – was not far away. As he was about to reach the last intersection of four containers, something grabbed him from behind. Inaho felt his feet lift from the ground and was thrown back toward where he had come from. He landed violently and rolled over the asphalt, coming to an abrupt stop by crashing into a container.

“Ugh!”

Everything was a mess. No thought functioned in his mind and he had completely lost his bearings. Inaho must have hit his head due to the pulsating pain in his skull, and his body hurt horribly – especially his shoulder and neck. Slowly – with clumsy movements – he raised his head from the ground, only to be greeted by the cursed knight standing right before him, staring at him with a pretentious sneer.

“Pathetic,” he heard the creature say. “A human child fighting a cursed knight of Vers… I must say it is a sorrowful sight.” Inaho saw the cursed knight squat down in front of him only to grab him by his hair. The human boy grunted from pain as he was forced to bend his neck into an uncomfortable position to look at the knight. “What a pity it is that I have to fight a child,” the cursed creature said with words completely void of empathy. “Sadly, I got the order to eradicate you all.”

Running steps were heard behind the cursed knight, and the knight quickly raised his free hand to get a hold of Rayet’s right ankle, which came flying through the air. The cursed girl had tried to kick him, but was now instead caught in the knight’s grip as if the knight had foreseen her attack.

“You never learn do you?” the knight growled and let go of Inaho’s hair. “Stupid girl!”

Inaho reached for the flare gun he had dropped, which lay a couple of meters away from him. With disorientation clouding his mind he pushed himself up as the two cursed creatures continued fighting, and hurried to take the flare gun and reload it. Then he forced his legs into a run and slipped past Rayet and the knight to make some distance, and turned around to aim at the cursed knight once more.

‘ _I’m so exhausted_ ,’ he thought and felt as if his body was slowly growing heavier. ‘ _Hold out a little while more!_ ’

A loud scream echoed through the area and Inaho watched as Rayet fell limply to the ground. Her leg had been violently twisted by the enemy, and she lay on the ground and groaned loudly while holding her damaged leg with protective arms.

“RAYET!”

Once again Inaho felt angry, and hate flooded into his heart. The grisly sight of his ally being hurt by the enemy made fury flare up inside the boy, and he pulled the trigger of the flare gun. The red flare hit the distracted knight and scorched his uniform, and energy coursed through the boy as he turned around just before the cursed knight directed his attention toward him.

“You insolent human!” he heard the knight yell behind him and Inaho dashed toward where his friends were hiding in wait for the knight.

The knight’s steps came closer with horrifying speed and Inaho’s hairs stood on end. He had never been chased like that by someone who would certainly kill him if he was caught. It was pure terror, and panic spread in his mind.

‘ _Stay calm!_ ’ he thought with a quickly scattering mind, and ran as fast as he could. ’ _Almost there!_ ’

“Do you really think you can run away from me!?” the cursed knight growled right behind him, and as Inaho threw a glance over his shoulder he saw the knight one step behind him, reaching a hand toward the human boy. “Come here!”

Inaho dodged the creature’s hand and shifted a step toward his right, and kept running. A couple of steps more and he would dash out from the corridor between the containers, and if he did not slow down now he would crash into the sea.

“You have nowhere to run, boy!” the cursed creature said amused, but Inaho had not planned on stopping.

Inaho came running out from between the containers with such speed it was impossible for him to stop before he reached the edge of the dock. Hesitation would only serve as a hindrance and he discarded any inhibitions he had and threw himself into the sea. The water was as cold as ice when he landed in it and sunk down below the surface. The shock nearly made him gasp in a deep breath of water as the cold water filled his overalls, but luckily he managed to stop the reflex somehow and swam up toward the surface.

As he broke the surface and saw the cursed knight stand on the edge of the dock, staring down at him, he yelled:

“NOW!”

The loud hissing of compressed gas being released filled the air, and a frosty cloud emerged from behind the edge of the dock. Inko and Calm were doing their duty by spraying the cursed creature with the cold gas, and the desperate scream of the knight echoed in the area. The vampire thrashed around from absolute pain and did not seem to know what to do or where to run as the cold was brutally biting it. Inko and Calm were pushing it back toward the edge of the dock as they had been told, and Inaho began swimming away to escape the cursed knight once he would fall into the water.

Within moments a loud splash was heard behind him and the vampire’s screams came to a stop for a while, until the cursed creature broke the surface and continued screaming from the pain the cold water brought him.

“Inaho!” Inko yelled from the dock. “Are you all right!?”

Inaho could not answer her. He was battling with the heavy overalls filled with water. All of his strength went into swimming and he was quickly getting out of breath.

“We need to help him!” Calm said hurriedly, and after a short moment a blue engineer uniform was lowered in front of the brunet. “Grab the overalls!”

Inaho did as Calm told him and took a hold of Calm’s blue overalls. His friends worked together to pull him up from the cold water, and once Inaho got up on the dock he collapsed onto the asphalt and gasped for breath. Every muscle hurt and his bones ached from the cold and exhaustion he had forced himself through.

“Inaho…!” Inko whispered and sat down next to him. “How are yo-?”

“Rayet…” the brunet gasped and shivered.

“What?” he heard Calm ask while the cursed knight screamed from pain in the water below.

‘ _Help her…!_ ’

“She’s … hurt,” the brunet gasped and pushed himself up on all four. The heavy water poured out of his overalls with loud splashes and cold sea water dripped from his nose and chin. “We need to … help her.”

Inaho heard the silence among his friends and knew what it meant. Inko and Calm wished not to help the cursed girl; they despised her and were afraid of her. It frustrated Inaho since they could not understand they needed her, and working alone with her would turn out to be a burden. His friends had to help him and accept Rayet as an ally. Otherwise Inaho would suffer alone together with Rayet.

“Inaho,” Calm said and looked at his friend with eyebrows knitted. He put his arms around his torso now that the chilly autumn air engulfed him; he was dressed in a short sleeved shirt and military knickers he had worn under the overalls. “We can’t bring her with us. She’s one of _them_ and you know she will be dangerous for everyone on board.”

‘ _Help her!_ ’ Inaho thought and gasped.

If his friends would not help her, he would do it alone. She was his responsibility and they had made a pact. He simply had to help her. With great effort he forced himself to stand and began staggering to where he had seen Rayet the last time.

“Inaho! Don’t force yourself to-!”

“She saved me,” the brunet said quietly and took careful steps. The anemia and exhaustion was weakening him considerably – especially now after the adrenaline had worn him out. “I can’t … abandon her…”

After a couple of more staggering steps his friends finally decided to help him. They found Rayet lying on the ground where Inaho had seen her last time with her skin translucent from hunger. She was breathing with sharp gasps, clearly in pain, and Inaho knew he had to offer blood to her to let her heal. He did not look forward to when he had to sacrifice his blood due to his own condition, but first and foremost they had to get her on board.

With the painful screams from the cursed knight still echoing in the background, Inko and Calm helped Inaho and Rayet on board the ship, which was ready to set sail.

‘ _Please, wait for a while, Rayet_ ,’ Inaho thought and was guided to the ship with an arm around Calm’s neck. ‘ _I can’t sacrifice blood just yet_.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Spoiler/tease/heads up:**
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> *sniff sniff* Hmm...? What's that? I think I smell a fated encounter closing in. About two chapters left for what I think most of you are waiting for. Boys! Stay strong!


	9. Point of No Return & Beyond the Audience – The Phantom of the Cursed Emperor

He pressed his back against the cold bulkhead and held his breath when the door into the conference room opened. Slaine listened to the determined steps of his master as the cursed count left the conference room – the room which Slaine had to sneak into. The boy had already prepared for his mission by being dressed in casual black sweatshirt and pants, and wore soft socks rather than boots to move as quietly as possible.

Moments earlier Cruhteo and his fellow counts and countesses had gotten an order through an open broadcast by the emperor to stand down. The emperor declared an armistice to the UN, and hope had begun to shine in the blond boy’s heart. Slaine had overheard this order and listened to Cruhteo’s slightly distressed words about needing to advise the emperor to think otherwise. That had been Slaine’s call; he would stalk the cursed count and sneak into the conference room once Cruhteo was finished with his call.

‘ _I knew it: He has something to gain from this war and exploits the princess’s death to justify his reasons to continued with it!_ ’ the boy had thought as he had watched Cruhteo walk out of the bridge where he had gotten the news of the truce.

What was Cruhteo after? Why was the cursed count so eager to keep fighting this war?

Slaine was determined to get inside the conference room. It did not matter if he was going to be caught and punished; as long as his beloved Asseylum needed him he would do whatever she needed him to do, or die trying. The boy had to protect her and stop the war no matter what he had to sacrifice. The humans had her, and the human boy could not even begin to think about what they probably were doing to her for simply being the enemy princess. Slaine found it angering the human and cursed girl he had saved had turned out to be the enemy. He had been naïve to think only the cursed creatures were bad, and he regretted saving them.

The cruel Cruhteo walked past the corner where Slaine crouched and the blond boy felt his body go stiff from nervousness. He held his breath and stared at the broad burgundy back of his lord’s uniform, who had not noticed him, and then he quickly threw a glance around the corner to see the slowly closing door. If Slaine did not get there within a couple of seconds the door would close and lock, and so he slowly and quietly got up from where he was sitting in the corner while keeping an eye on Cruhteo as he backed toward the conference room door. The sounds from the lively ship helped to drown out whatever silent sound he made as he moved and, to his relief, the cursed count did not notice him.

Slaine barely managed to slip into the room and gently pushed the door closed. Despite his mind being dulled by inhibitory medication he still thought with great detail; if the door did not close within the usual time span his lord was used to, it might attract attention and Slaine would be caught red-handed.

When the door was closed he let out a deep breath and recovered for a couple of seconds. He had to relax and keep his mind wrapped around what he needed to do. The room was dark with only a small porthole, which let in the weak light from the evening outside. The human boy could hardly see anything and narrowed his eyes in an attempt to focus on the dark interior of the room. Luckily Slaine’s mind was spinning with thought, faster than a whirlwind, and he had prepared for the darkness in the room by bringing a flashlight. It was dangerous to light the room with the florescent lights in the ceiling since someone from the neighboring ships might see it from outside.

The blond boy carefully swept the flashlight over the room and saw the satellite phone he was looking for. It stood in its docking station and Slaine hurried over to it.

‘ _How do I call?_ ’ he thought with cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.

There had to be a forgotten manual somewhere. There always was no matter what onboard apparatus it came to. With that hope in mind he began searching through the drawers and folders, shelves and binders. Slaine felt blessed due to Cruhteo’s orderly nature; the man always kept things in order and tidy – which reflected the cursed man’s character pretty accurately – and it made Slaine’s mission easier; the boy found the binder with the instructions to the satellite phone.

Slaine followed the directives and searched for the latest number Cruhteo had used, and decided to try it and hope it was the correct one. Even if the phone was used to communicate with the cursed empire Cruhteo still might have called someone else to talk privately. Slaine’s heart began beating wildly. It hammered against his ribcage like the mighty blows of a blacksmith, and the boy felt nauseous. He had not spoken to the emperor for a long time, and what would he say to him?

‘ _No matter what I have to let him know about his granddaughter. In this moment the information is more important than how I phrase it_ ,’ he thought and pushed the redial button.

††† 

“Congratulations, Kaizuka Junior,” he heard the captain say the moment Inaho had been brought onto the bridge of the ship. He had been separated from Rayet after the captain had called for him, and after changing into dry clothes he had been supported by Calm to get up onto the bridge.

“Nao!” his sister exclaimed the moment she saw his weak frame hanging onto Calm with an arm around the other boy’s neck. Yuki hurried up to him and Inaho felt her warm hands cup his cheeks. “You’re an idiot, Nao!” she said and looked worried. “You could have died…!”

“I’m fine,” Inaho lied and maintained eye contact with her to let her have a proper look at him.

“No, you look really exhausted. It’s not like you to be so reckless,” his sister complained.

“It’s not?” Inaho wondered out loud, but then began thinking. No, he was never reckless. He always calculated things thoroughly and never dashed head first into things he had not thought through. Then again, things were much different to what he was used to – to what everyone was used to. Now Inaho had precious people and cargo to protect in a way he had never thought he had to. “I guess you’re right…” he answered quietly.

“Yet another crazy stunt by you and your friends,” Captain Magbaredge said and walked up to the boys. “I must thank you all for your heroic sacrifice and with the same breath dissuade you from doing that again.”

Inaho sighed after Yuki let go of him to let him talk to the captain. The boy was so exhausted he simply wished to be left alone. The thank you speech could wait for later – or not occur at all.

“Guns won’t work when fighting a cursed creature,” Inaho said. “You can’t attack an older generation vampire with silver bullets only; they’re not lethal unless you manage to hit the creature with plenty of silver.”

The captain stared at the boy for a short while. Inaho was sure she knew this all too well and he might have come off as rude, but he had to address the problem with the human military if Humanity would get a chance to survive. The boy suspected he knew why the problem had not been dealt with sooner; very few dared to face a cursed creature head on the way Inaho had done two times in one day.

“I am very much aware of that, Kaizuka Junior,” the captain answered after a moment of silence. “As you probably know we humans are in a great disadvantage considering the cursed creatures’ abilities. We cannot take damage the way they can, and we are also weaker and slower. Our best bet is to use a defensive strategy rather than an offensive one.”

“And that is the reason to why the cursed creatures are winning ground,” Inaho countered. “If their weaknesses are to be taken advantage of they will fall like skittles.”

The captain stared at Inaho for one second longer than Inaho found comfortable, and then sighed:

“What you say is very much true, but you cannot expect people to simply risk their lives in an impossible fight like the two fights you have been lucky enough to survive. When facing a nightmarish creature people have a tendency to be too frightened to function properly.”

Inaho had to admit she was right as well. The words of Rayet echoed in Inaho’s mind from when she had stepped in between Inaho and Calm during their argument at their school about a similar topic.

“And I won’t let you go out there each time and compensate for the cowardliness of the other soldiers,” he heard his sister say, and Inaho turned his burgundy eyes to her.

“They aren’t cowards; they have the right to choose when they will die and for whom,” the brunet said. “Magbaredge is right.”

The captain grumbled something about Inaho forgetting to address her as captain, but Inaho paid her no mind. Yuki understood what the boy was thinking and she desperately tried to protect her little brother from the fate he was about to choose. Inaho could not blame her either for wanting to put a leash around his neck and keep him safe, but this war was so much more than the bond between two siblings.

‘ _I’m sorry, Yuki-nee, but I have to do this. I choose to give my life for everyone I care about and for humankind no matter what you or the captain say_ ,’ he thought.

“I understand our defensive strategy is filled with flaws,” the captain continued. “But we will have to do what we can.”

“And so do I,” Inaho answered and let go of Calm to leave the bridge. His sister was quick to follow him, but Inaho wanted to be left alone for a while. The boy had to rest and his sister’s hectic nature would not help him get a moment of quietude. “Yuki-nee… I would like to be left alone for a while. Let me come to you once I feel ready to receive your support,” the brunet said quietly and waited.

“Nao…” Yuki’s sorrowful voice sounded behind him. “Of course…”

Calm hurried after Inaho and kept an eye on the Japanese boy who had trouble walking down the stairs from the bridge. They walked quietly for a while and Calm helped Inaho whenever Inaho’s physical strength wavered. Then…

“Dude… I’m sorry,” Calm said quietly with a downcast expression.

“For what?” Inaho asked emotionlessly as he continued his way down the stairs.

“You know,” the other boy mumbled awkwardly. “For earlier today when I snapped at you at school…”

Inaho did not stop; he carefully continued to take one step at a time to reach the deck where he could rest properly. With an out of breath voice he answered:

“It’s all right. I understand why you did that.”

“You do?” Calm asked surprised. “Do you forgive me?”

Inaho had no energy to give Calm support. The other boy was genuinely downhearted about what he had done earlier that day, but Inaho had his own troubles that needed to be taken care of first. The brunet wished he could give Calm the support the boy required by ensuring him he had given a natural reaction to an unnatural situation, and that Inaho had not taken it personally. However, Inaho was in no shape to even receive support himself; how was he supposed to be able to give it in an exhausted situation like this?

“I do,” the brunet answered frankly and hoped that was enough. “I’m sorry, but I have to be left alone for a while.”

“Because of the anemia and all?” Calm asked, and Inaho nodded. “You shouldn’t give your blood to that vampire. You can’t control her and she will suck you dry one day; you will die of hypovolemia.”

‘ _I don’t need this!_ ’ Inaho thought with frustration.

“I didn’t ask for your opinion about her,” the brunet said and stopped to sit down on one of the stairs as his strength nearly disappeared for a moment. He leaned against the cold wall and closed his eyes, feeling horribly out of breath. “We need her, and don’t argue against me. Nothing you say will change my mind and I will take the consequences of my decisions. Don’t worry.”

Calm did not seem to like what the brunet said, but he did not flare it up into an argument. Inaho was grateful for that. Even if Inaho clearly saw it on Calm’s expression and heard it in his silence that the boy had a lot to say to him about the matter, Calm still stayed quiet. All the brunet needed was some time alone to recuperate, as well as get a little bit of understanding.

“Fine,” Calm mumbled with a sigh. “Just know that I nag at you because I care; I hate her because I care about you, and she might take you away from us – just like the baron did to Okojo.”

“I know. Thank you,” Inaho answered and took a deep breath to calm down. “Just don’t forget this is a war.”

“I’m aware of that, buddy. That’s why I’m so worried about you and everyone else,” the Westerner answered and walked down the stairs to leave Inaho alone.

Inaho listened to Calm’s steps against the metal stairs and then heard the watertight door open and close as the boy stepped through it and disappeared. When the brunet was left alone in the staircase he took a deep breath, pulled up his knees to hug them, and leaned his head against his arms. He was so exhausted his muscles hurt, and he wondered how the blood sacrifice had been able to run around earlier that day after sacrificing blood to a baron. The boy had looked as though he had been on his deathbed back in the truck, but yet he had been able to move about according to Calm’s sightings.

‘ _Is it because he’s exercising perhaps?_ ’ Inaho thought and wondered if he had to do the same in order to be able to feed Rayet and keep himself energetic enough to fight a cursed creature right after a blood sacrifice. Inaho had not been exercising beyond the training in school since he had not believed he needed it back then. The blond boy with the enemy uniform was probably of an athletic build to fight against blood loss and anemia like that. ‘ _I will try to save him next time I see him_ ,’ the brunet thought as he remembered the innocent eyes of the blood sacrifice who had been in the arms of a murderous cursed baron.

A watertight door opened and closed, and unsteady steps came closer in a haunting way. They sounded like they were made by someone who wore boots, but their pattern was that of a hurt being; the pattern was that of a staggering creature. Inaho felt a chill down his spine and looked up. He met the animalistic eyes of a hunter.

“Rayet,” the brunet said with a horrible feeling taking over in his guts. The girl did not react but kept staring at him like a wild animal with wide and focused eyes. Her hunting instincts had grown. “I assume you’re hungry?” Inaho then tried, but Rayet tilted her head slightly and kept staring at him without blinking.

‘ _An eight generation vampire…_ ’

They were as civil as any other intelligent creature when they were not plagued by hunger, but the hungrier they became the less reasonable they were. Inaho had heard cursed creatures of a newer generation had the risk of turning into animals once violently hungry, while those of the older generations could control their instincts without flaws. The strain of the curse was peculiar; The longer away it got from its original source – the first generation vampires – the more information went missing in it, causing the newer generations – seven and below – to become haunted by animalistic instincts to different degrees. The breaking point was at the tenth generation. In that generation the curse was so weak with information that the cursed creatures became nothing but beasts; behaving like wolves or lions; unpredictable and dangerous. The general rule was that no cursed creature below the ninth generation was allowed to curse a human, since the outcome could be an uncontrolled vampire with pure instincts and insufficient intelligence levels.

Rayet was of the eight generation, which meant she could lose control of her animalistic instincts during critical moments of hunger – and now that had happened. She was probably after Inaho since he was her blood sacrifice. Even during a moment like this a cursed creature rather chased after its blood sacrifice than a random human being.

Inaho felt cornered. He wanted to go to bed and sleep, and sacrificing his blood was something he would have preferred to do later. Then again, he had promised to feed her if she helped him protect the cursed princess. This she had done and Inaho had to take responsibility. Now, the situation was slightly more troubling: He could not get a hold of equipment to draw blood without telling the crew in the sick bay about Rayet. He could not stroll up to the doctor and ask for a needle and tourniquet without telling them why, and he did not trust others to stay calm about having a cursed creature on board.

“Rayet… I can’t give you blood now,” Inaho tried, but the girl lowered herself on all four and climbed a step closer in a limping movement. Inaho wanted to back away despite he knew it would be useless. “I don’t have the equipment for it right now. Can’t you wait a little while?”

Rayet did not answer and her silence verified Inaho’s horror: She was completely influenced by the instincts to feed and nothing Inaho said would have her think otherwise.

‘ _What do I do? I can’t trust her not to kill me when she’s like this_ ,’ the brunet thought and shivered from a horrible and undefined emotion. ‘ _Will I die here?_ ’

“Rayet, listen. I am your blood sacrifice, so you should not kill-“

Inaho was not given the chance to finish his sentence. The cursed girl rushed up the stairs on all four like a predator and took a hold of Inaho’s shoulders to push him down. Inaho tried to fight back, but he was too weak to resist her hollow hunger – and he fell onto his back on the stairs. The edges of a couple of steps cut into his spine, which made a sharp pain shoot through him.

“Ugh! R-Rayet!” he gasped and put his hands against her throat to push her face away from him. She was baring her fangs and the light from the ceiling lamp gleamed in her wet teeth. “Stop…! You shouldn’t bite me! I might get addicted to-”

The cursed creature did not listen to his plea and Inaho realized he would be bitten for the first time no matter what he did; he was too weak for her. He would feel the poison rush through him and dull his mind, and she would drink his blood until she calmed down and became reasonable once more.

Rayet grabbed Inaho’s hands and pushed them away from her throat, and Inaho twisted them free and pushed her shoulders back instead. Once again she grabbed his wrists and this time pinned them against the stairs, and leaned closer toward Inaho’s neck.

“Rayet…!” the brunet gasped as he tried to pull himself free and aim a kick against her.

It was pointless and fear exploded in him the moment he felt the moist breath of a predator against the skin of his neck. The cursed creature would feed on him and there was nothing he could do. His skin prickled as he heard the wet noise of her swallowing down saliva from excitement, and lips covered the left side of his neck.

“R-Rayet!” he exclaimed before a horrible stinging sensation attacked his neck. “Agh!”

It hurt. It burned. It stung and felt frightening. He went completely cold and wanted to scream and cry from being mercilessly violated, but no voice came forth. He was in utter shock that paralyzed him. Then he suddenly began to relax and became limp. His mind numbed and he was floating in limbo. No thoughts and no emotions flowed in him for a while, and there was no pain or exhaustion. It was pleasant in a warped way; he was nothing but void.

†††

The sound of waves. The relieved smile of a beautiful girl and a starry night sky. The scent of flowers and sea, and the sensation of cold water licking sensitive skin. The boy had coughed violently and the older girl had held him in her arms and helped him to cough up the salty sea water the boy had swallowed. Slaine had been eleven years old when the ship he and his father had sailed with toward the Vers Empire had sunk after accidentally hitting a drifting underwater mine from the Nightfall war. The boy had managed to stay afloat with a life vest and had been washed up on the shore of the royal family’s summer place. There he had been found by the older princess who had saved him, and later she had saved the boy’s father as well.

The memories were still vividly living on in the heart and mind. The sounds. The lighting. The smells and sensations… Everything still lived on in recollection as if no time had passed at all. It was bittersweet in a way since those memories were from a time that had been filled with warmth; a time that was now lost forever. It would have been great to go back to those times, the boy thought, but he knew it was impossible with the fire of war slowly spreading across the world.

‘ _Asseylum…_ ’

Slaine sat on the cold floor in one of the hangar bays and looked out through a cargo opening at the waves on the sea while the wind of the storm played with his hair and casual clothes. Normally it would have been a quiet place during the early hours in the morning when the world was still asleep and the majority of the cursed creatures had gone to bed. Now, however, his moment of solitude was accompanied by both gentle and running steps, people talking and yelling, engines and machinery spinning and hammering, and things being moved around. Orders were being said and soldiers were obeying.

The boy had managed to contact the emperor and spoken to him about Asseylum still being alive, but something had been off with the first generation vampire. The old man had sounded tired and given the boy no genuine reaction. The human boy felt troubled. Something was greatly off. The emperor had not been the kind and warm man Slaine remembered him to be. The emperor he had spoken to had been a phantom rather than the one Slaine remembered.

Despite that Slaine was relieved for the armistice; it was the first step to stop the war. Now, all he could do was to wait for the next step of those with the power to either continue the war or completely call it off. It was a nerve-racking moment for the entire world.

An orange fast rescue boat came into view right below the hangar, and Slaine watched it with surprise. He recognized the cursed creature on board it who looked infuriated. It was Sir Vlad, the cursed knight Cruhteo had sent out on a mission to eradicate the humans who had fled from Cruhteo’s newfound territory. The cursed count had decided on burning the land to ashes, partly to make it useless for whoever had attacked his territory with the air raid, and to destroy the humans’ homes to avenge the princess.

‘ _What happened?_ ’ the human boy wondered and watched the crew recover the FRB. It was raised on board the mother ship and a furious Vlad stepped out of the boat. He wore a heating jacket over the uniform to keep him warm, and he was soaked.

“Hurry up and prepare an aircraft for an escort mission! Do not drag your feet! I shall chase them out at sea!” the angry knight ordered.

‘ _But the armistice!_ ’ Slaine through while feeling confused of why the cursed knight still went out into war as if he cared nothing about the armistice.

The human boy felt a need to know what the cursed knight had been through since he came back in such shape. Maybe he knew something about the boy and girl Slaine had saved?

“Sir Vlad!” Slaine exclaimed and hurried up to him to walk half a step behind the cursed knight. “I am relieved you are unharmed.”

The blood in the boy’s veins froze when the cursed knight turned to look at him with terrifying anger:

“Who said I was unharmed!?” he yelled so loud his voice echoed in the hangar. “I have lost my honor!”

Slaine slowed his steps with cold sweat breaking out on his back and forehead, but then hurried up to the cursed knight to follow him. Slaine was curious about who had been responsible for the bump and scratch on Sir Vlad’s honor.

“Was your opponent that strong?” the boy asked confused, and Sir Vlad glared at him for a short moment before he said with a lowered tone to his voice:

“No… Some impertinent orange bastard and his friends made a fool out of me!”

‘ _Orange!?_ ’ Slaine thought and felt his heart make a hard beat from remembering the boy who had taken Asseylum away. The human boy had been dressed in an orange uniform. ‘ _It’s him! It must be him!_ ’ It could not be anyone else. That boy had probably been the one to reduce Trillram into the pitiful shape Slaine had later found back in Shinawara. ‘ _He seems perfectly capable, considering he managed to nearly kill Trillram and forced Vlad to retreat_.’

“What are you doing here?” Slaine heard Vlad continue, and the human boy looked up at the cursed knight. “Should you not be with the count?”

Slaine stopped and so did Vlad. The cursed knight turned to look at him and Slaine could almost feel the hungering look lick his neck. The knight was hungry and the human boy lowered his face to hide from the cursed creature’s unpleasant stare.

“I … was ordered to rest after Cruhteo reprimanded me,” Slaine said quietly and instantly looked up as he noticed the cursed knight take a step closer to him. Slaine quickly backed away and stared at the knight without blinking in case the vampire decided to attack him.

“I understand you got a blood transfusion?” Vlad asked, and Slaine nodded. “Useless. To spend valuable blood on a blood sacrifice… What a cruel joke it is.” The cursed knight stepped closer and Slaine backed away. Vlad seemed to dislike the boy’s reaction; he frowned with disgust. “Those eyes of yours has changed,” he heard the knight say.

‘ _You say that too?_ ’ Slaine thought.

“Lord Cruhteo said the same thing. He dislikes the look in my eyes, but I am unsure of what he, and now you, speak about,” Slaine answered and yelped when Vlad stepped up to him without warning and grabbed the boy’s jaw.

“You are just like your human comrades. Impertinent,” the cursed knight said quietly and stared at the boy. “There is no need for you to curry favor with feats of valor, so wipe that impudent look from your eyes, blood sacrifice.”

That pecked at a sensitive nerve in Slaine’s mind. A shock of electricity flashed through him and made his mind black out for a moment, and then the boy made a daring move and brusquely pushed himself away from the knight to give outlet for his intense anger.

“Says the one who returned with nothing but feats of humiliation,” Slaine said with a more poisonous voice than he had intended. “I am only thinking about the princess!”

The back of the cursed knights hand struck the boy’s cheek hard enough it made Slaine stagger. His cheek ached horribly the moment he realized what had happened, and he looked up at the infuriated cursed creature to prepare for a possible attack.

“Do you have no dignity, blood sacrifice!?” the knight growled. “If you were mine I would kill you this instant for saying such audacious things and for looking at your superior with ill intent!”

Slaine decided to stay silent. He had crossed a line without realizing it until it was too late. If he kept pushing the cursed creature’s patience, there was no guarantee he would come out of the dangerous situation alive.

‘ _What came over me?_ ’ the boy thought and felt perplexed about what he had done.

“Know your place, blood sacrifice,” the cursed knight grumbled and left the human boy alone in his confusion.

Slaine stared at the back of the knight and raised a hand to his hurting cheek, which had begun to swell immediately. The sudden anger he had felt the moment Vlad had verbally harassed him had been too great for the boy to handle. The drugs he took had not been able to calm him down either, which meant it had been a powerful emotion.

‘ _That’s right… I learned how to hate_ ,’ Slaine thought and remembered back to the intense hate that had begun to grow in him the moment Trillram had revealed what his intentions in Shinawara actually were. ‘ _The war is not stopping; the emperor probably did not believe me. What do I do now?_ ’ he then thought and looked out through the hangar opening at the still storming sea. ‘ _Do I need to find her myself?_ ’

†††

Someone was crying. The whimpers and sobs made the person’s sadness sound deep and hopeless. His chest was wet – probably from the person’s tears – and he felt cold – probably due to the metal he was lying on.

Inaho opened his eyes slightly and saw a vortex of beautiful red hair that brushed against his cheeks. Rayet was crying against his chest and was pulling at Inaho’s sweater in a desperate attempt to find some kind of support.

‘ _Why are you crying?_ ’ the brunet thought with a hazy mind. His body was awfully heavy and tired. Despite that, he forced his arms up to let his hands rest on the girl’s back, and the moment Rayet understood Inaho was awake she looked up at him with bloodshot eyes. She had been crying for a while.

“You’re alive…!” she gasped with great relief and sobbed. “Inaho…!” Her face was entirely wet with tears and snot, but she had a healthy glow on her cheeks. “I thought I killed you.”

Inaho had to think for a moment to understand what she was talking about, but then he slowly began to remember.

‘ _Oh yes… You attacked me_ ,’ the brunet thought and took a deep breath.

“I … need to get … to the infirmary,” he said with a barely audible voice. “But I’m … too weak.”

He had to take breaths often to be able to finish a sentence, and even that was exhausting. The cursed girl must have had more blood than she needed considering how weak Inaho had become after she had been feeding on him. The brunet could hardly focus on her.

“I’ll help you,” the girl said urgently. “I’ll help you,” she repeated and got up to lift him up from the cold stairs.

Inaho was pulled up and hung beside Rayet with his arm around her neck, like a ragdoll. He managed to move his legs slowly, and together they moved toward the sick bay.

“Is your … leg all right?” the brunet asked while gasping from the great exertion he pushed his body through.

Rayet was quick to look at him with surprise and ask:

“What?”

“The one … the knight damaged. Is it … all right?”

Rayet smiled a warm smile and opened a watertight door to lead Inaho through it.

“It has healed. Don’t worry about such minor things,” she said but then got a melancholy look in her eyes. “I’m sorry… I nearly killed you.”

“But you didn’t…” the brunet answered weakly. “Besides… You’re my … responsibility…”

Rayet stayed quiet and helped him all the way to the sick bay, where a doctor immediately greeted Inaho with great distress. Rayet was afraid of letting people know about what she was, and the human boy decided to explain his condition with a lie about the enemy biting him during the fight at the dock. The doctor ordered a blood transfusion for Inaho and the boy was left alone as Rayet hurried out of the sick bay without a word.

Inaho knew Rayet was battling with guilt. In a way he could not blame her for what she had done to him, but something fundamental had been shaken by that traumatic event in the staircase. The boy feared her. The emotion crawled around beneath his skin like spiders or ants, making his hair stand on end only thinking about being bitten again. The way his body had gone silent and empty from the poison had been horrifying; he had not been able to fight back at all; there had been no way for him to protect himself. All he had been able to do in that moment had been to obediently wait for the cursed girl to finish feeding and hope she stopped before he died. He had been lucky this time.

‘ _I can’t do this alone…_ ’ he thought and felt frustrated. ‘ _What do I do?_ ’

Inaho was ordered to sleep in the sick bay throughout the night and rest up properly. The moment his sister learned he had been hospitalized in the sick bay she had hurried to sit by his side, which Inaho appreciated. He could have been without Yuki’s complaints about him being a blood sacrifice, but he understood her need to vent about her suffocating feelings about the cursed girl. She scolded him about Rayet attacking him since she had known Inaho had been lying to the crew in the sick bay, and tried to make the boy understand how dangerous it was being a blood sacrifice.

“You might die tomorrow if you keep this up, Nao,” Yuki sighed and held Inaho’s hand to keep it warm. The boy had been cold. “You were lucky this time, but who knows what will happen next time she becomes hungr-“

“I need her,” Inaho said quietly and watched her sister frown. “The human world needs her. You know how weak our army is.”

Yuki sighed heavily – the way she always sighed when she knew Inaho was right despite she did not emotionally agree with him. Then she kept arguing with him about how important it was for him to stop feeding the girl and engaging in dangerous battles. Inaho stayed silent and listened to her arguments, but somehow he felt lonelier for each word she spoke. It felt as if she was not on his side, leaving him to face terror all on his own. She was busy being worried for him alone, while Inaho thought about his loved ones and everyone else’s kin who would die if this war was not stopped.

If she would have known about the princess still being alive perhaps she would have understood why her brother was so obstinate about being Rayet’s blood sacrifice. He wished to tell her about the truth of what was going on, but he feared she would be dragged into something dangerous with that information in her head. Then again, Inaho had been through something terrifying, and he needed the support Yuki had been prepared to give him earlier that day.

“I’m scared,” Inaho said and interrupted Yuki. His sister’s words were caught in her throat and she stared at the brunet with shock. “I need you by my side. I can’t fight alone,” Inaho continued.

“Nao…” Yuki said with a trembling voice and tears sprung up in her eyes. It was unusual for Inaho to express something like that, and it overwhelmed her. “You’re not alone, you know that.”

Inaho shook his head and felt his hair tangling as it rubbed against the pillow. Yuki’s hands squeezed Inaho’s tighter.

“I am. As long as I get no understanding or support from you or my friends, I am fighting alone,” he said to clarify what he had meant. “I need her because I want to protect you. Don’t shun my need to protect you all.”

“Should I just accept that you’re basically lying down to die, Nao?” Yuki asked and a first tear rolled down her cheek. “You know, that is what you’re doing right now; lying down to die a slow and exhausting death. How can I accept anything like that without at least trying to talk you out of it? You do realize we want to protect you too?”

“I know…” the brunet murmured. “But all of us might die in the end if this war isn’t stopped, and you know I can contribute by fighting.”

Yuki said no more and instead took a deep breath and nodded. She had given up about persuading him to stop fighting and sacrificing, and instead she reached to brush Inaho’s bangs away from the boy’s eyes. It was her sign of accepting what he said as well as promising him she would give him all of her support.

‘ _Thank you, sis_ …’

That night Inaho slept heavily with Yuki lying next to him on a spare bed. He felt safe and sound with his only family by his side, and it made him feel blessed. The terror from the evening before disappeared the moment he fell asleep, and once morning came he felt much stronger and steadier despite aftereffects from the transfusion. Yuki was ordered onto the bridge and, before she left, she gave Inaho’s head a gentle pat and told him to take it easy.

“The grownups will take care of things. You have done well, so rest up now and have a well deserved breakfast,” she had said before disappearing, and Inaho had left for the canteen.

“Inaho!” Inko’s cheerful voice was heard from the end of the canteen where the crewmembers were eating breakfast early in the morning. She seemed relieved seeing him, but her expression turned worried the moment she saw Inaho’s pale face. “How are you feeling? I heard you collapsed last night.”

“I’m a little tired and lightheaded, but I’m fine,” the brunet answered as he put down the tray with breakfast, and then sat down next to Calm. Inaho had decided to have two slices of bread with a great amount of peanut butter and a plate filled with scrambled eggs and vegetables. He had to restore his energy levels with food packed with proteins and fat, vitamins and other nutrients. “Who told you?” he then asked and sprinkled salt over the scrambled eggs.

“Rayet,” Calm answered quietly and poked the cereals in the bowl in front of him with a spoon. “She told us you were in the sick bay and got a blood transfusion.”

“I’m glad to see you’re feeling better,” Nina smiled to him with brightly lit eyes and took a great bite of the toast she was holding. Breadcrumbs dropped down from her lips as she chewed. “I was worried about you. We all were.”

“I don’t know if you have heard, Inaho, but Vers has declared an armistice with UN. The war is on hold at the moment,” Calm said and raised the spoon with cereals to eat, and kept talking with food in his mouth: “They open hostilities against us only to later call for a ceasefire. What’s up with that?”

“Why do you have to talk about the war the first thing you do after Inaho is released from the sick bay?” Inko scolded him with a pout. “And don’t talk with your mouth full.”

Calm clicked his tongue annoyed and kept eating his breakfast while grumbling to himself.

“It might mean the enemy doesn’t have total solidarity,” Inaho said after a short moment of silence, and took a bite of the scrambled eggs.

“Something’s up with them for sure,” Nina said and picked up the carton with apple juice to drink from the straw.

“Either way, we should enjoy the quietude while it lasts,” Inko sighed and then smiled to Inaho. “You know – the captain spoke to me and Calm while you were in the sick bay. She said she would have liked to give us medals if we were actual combatants,” she then said with excitement, thinking it would cheer Inaho up somewhat as well as vent out her thrill. “Imagine that! A direct endorsement from Captain Magbaredge!” she said with stars in her eyes.

Her excited look suited her, Inaho thought, and yet he had to erase her shiny smile:

“Is it that special?” he asked and watched Inko pout.

“Of course it is!”

“Why?” Inaho asked quietly, and Inko went silent when she understood from Inaho’s tone of voice that he did not approve of the endorsement. “Medals are useless in war; anyone can get them. They simply serve to encourage soldiers to risk their lives. Children shouldn’t have such encouragement,” the brunet said and the table went deathly quiet for a second or two.

“The kid is right,” they heard a rough voice say from somewhere close by, barely audible due to the canteen being as busy as ever. “Soon you’ll see medals raining down on people around you. This is a war after all.”

The children at the table looked up at the familiar face of their formerly drunken instructor from school; one of the lieutenants who had trained them for war while smelling of alcohol.

“Instructor Marito!” Nina exclaimed with surprise, and all three of Inaho’s friends rose up to salute their previous instructor. Inaho simply saluted the man while sitting; he could not bother to get up from his seat.

“Instructor?” the man said with a grin. “This isn’t a school, you know?”

“M-my apologies, _Lieutenant_ Marito,” Nina said nervously with her sweetly girlish voice.

“Sit down, kids, and let me give you a last advice as your instructor from school,” the man then said and leaned against the table with his arms, and Inaho’s friend did as they were told despite the man did not order them to sit down. “Listen: Don’t be fooled by the glory of honor; it’s the only reward the military can afford to dish out.”

“So it means nothing?” Calm asked with disappointment. “I think it would be cool to have a medal after all this is over.”

“If you survive for that long, then maybe,” Marito warned him, still with the characteristic smile of a cocky man who had been in the military for a long time. “Although I must admit there’s nothing wrong with dying in the name of honor, especially with this kind of enemy in mind; in our case surviving can mean to live a life of misery,” the man continued.

It was a fair point, Inaho thought. No one knew when the cursed creatures would come or how the fight would end up. Every human soldier and civilian had to come to terms with when their life would lose its value, and what they had to fight for. It was an existential question everyone had to face despite the truce the Emperor of Vers had declared; there was no way of knowing when a spark would fly and lit up the fires of war once more. Inaho hoped his friends had been brave enough to face that terrifying question so they knew when to keep fighting and when to stop.

‘ _No one should be forced to fight if they don’t find a meaning in it; they would die for nothing. Everyone are allowed to decide when to sacrifice their lives, and for what_ ,’ he thought and went back to eating when Dr. Yagarai called for their former instructor. Rayet’s words from the previous day had truly made an impact in the brunet’s mind, which had been made up with decisions based on those words.

“Remember that, kids,” Marito for once said with seriousness, and left the children to continue eating their breakfast.

Everyone at the table seemed to have lost their appetite, except Inaho who nearly managed to finish up his breakfast before an alarm went off and made his heart jump.

“ _All hands to battle stations!_ ” he heard a female commander order, and nausea welled up from the bottom of Inaho’s stomach as he got anxious. “ _An enemy knight has boarded the ship! Intercept the enemy!_ ”

“He’s back for revenge!?” Calm exclaimed with fury and got up from his seat. “We need to do something!”

When Inaho stood up from his seat as the canteen exploded with horrible noises of running steps, his friends stared at him. The brunet had made up his mind about what his life was worth and for whom and when he decided to sacrifice it. He had battled the existential question, and was determined to follow the decision he had made.

“Do any of you know where Rayet is?” he asked and looked at his friends, who all stared back at him with horrified expressions.

“You can’t possibly…!” Inko began, but Inaho was determined.

“I need to know where she is,” he asked again.

Apparently Rayet had been seen sleeping in the cargo holds next to an exhaust pipe to stay warm, and Inaho ran down the corridor, heavily out of breath, to find her. The blood transfusion had helped him to regain some strength, but the heaviness in his body was still present. The body lacked energy and Inaho wished he had had time to eat a proper meal and rest before dealing with another dangerous encounter with the enemy, but he had no choice but to push himself forward.

“ _The enemy has found a way inside the ship. I repeat: The enemy is inside the ship. All evacuees are ordered to stay in the cargo holds_ ,” a female officer said in the speakers. “ _Soldiers: Locate the enemy and incapacitate him!_ ”

The moment Inaho dashed into the cargo holds area he quickly searched for Rayet and luckily found her. She was dressed in blue overalls and held a radio in her had, and when she heard Inaho’s steps she looked up at him with a grim expression.

“Are you ready for the second round?” she asked and threw the radio to Inaho. “You look exhausted.”

The brunet caught the radio thrown to him and then quickly let his eyes wander over Rayet.

“Are you?” Inaho asked out of breath. “Do you need blood?”

“I don’t need blood now,” Rayet answered and hurried over to a watertight door and put her hand onto the handle. “We should hurry. Do you have a plan?”

Inaho thought quickly with stress shaking up his nerves. They had to get the enemy off the ship in one way or another. Inaho doubted the soldiers on board would be able to defeat the cursed knight with mere silver bullets – unless they actually managed to hit the vampire with a great quantity of silver. The longer the cursed creature was allowed to roam the ship the more lives would be lost.

‘ _We need to get him off the ship quickly!_ ’ the brunet thought.

“We should try to lure him into somewhere where we can seal him away,” he heard Rayet say and Inaho looked up at her pale grey eyes, which had a shade of purple in them – probably due to her eyes being so pale the blood hinted through in the irises. “Can you think of any compartment like that?” she continued.

Her idea was not bad. It was something they could do instantly rather than waste precious amount of lives and ammunition of trying to kill the creature. If they could seal away the enemy in a compartment they could simply leave him there, or prepare for the next step of dealing with him with all time in the world.

“The anchor room,” Inaho said and quickly set the radio to the right channel and then raised it to his lips: “Captain, do you copy?”

He waited with a protesting heart hammering in his chest, and after a short moment he heard a response:

“ _Kaizuka Junior? You are ordered into the cargo holds. We shall handle this_ ,” Captain Magbaredge said with a stern voice, which warned Inaho to engage with the cursed knight once again.

“If you won’t tell me where he is I will have to find him myself. You would save us a lot of time if you simply told me where he is and cleared the way into the anchor room,” Inaho said while still gasping for breath.

“ _Another plan of yours?_ ” the captain asked with a voice that sounded as if she gritted her teeth. “ _You have done enough_.”

“The longer we argue the more lives will be lost. Have your men managed to secure the enemy yet?” Inaho continued pushing and nodded to Rayet to open the door. “I’m heading out now, Captain. Tell me where your men are dying.”

By leaving those words ringing in the captain’s ears Inaho was certain she would give in and tell him where to find the enemy.


	10. Island of Memory – Steel Wing Suite

“ _In the name of Rayregalia Vers Rayvers, Emperor of Vers, I reinstate my declaration of war. Attack the humans! They murdered my flesh and blood, and we shall reduce them to ashes!_ ”

Slaine heard the unbelieving order of the cursed emperor come out from the speaker in his cabin. Heat licked his skin from the inside the moment panic was about to grab a hold of him, and he dropped the glass of water he was holding. The shivering sound of glass breaking into hundreds of shards attacked his ears and the flaring heat that had coursed through him the moment before poured out of him and left him trembling.

“W-what…?” he asked with shock.

It was impossible. It was unbelievable. Nothing made sense to him. Had he not told the emperor his granddaughter was alive? If the old cursed creature had believed him, then why had he revoked the truce to continue the war? Something suspicious was going on and Slaine appeared to be the only one noticing it – or rather being the only one caring about stopping this war.

“What do I do…?” the boy whispered to himself and took a deep breath.

He turned his eyes down to stare at the shards of broken glass around his boots. He had just finished dressing in the Versian uniform of a soldier and been heading out of the cabin to exercise when the orders of the emperor had interrupted him. The boy was about to lose his mind over the impossible situation. It was overpowering to handle by himself. The princess was alive and was in human hands! Why was this happening!? It insulted the princess’s dreams and her memory.

“Damn it!” the boy growled from anger and hit the bulkhead to his right with a fist.

Slaine realized he was truly alone in this madness. He had to get out there and find the princess and get her to her grandfather. Why was the old cursed man not listening to the boy’s words? Slaine was sure he had thoroughly reported to the old cursed man that he had seen her alive. Even if the war was based on revenge for the assassination Slaine was still not convinced of the emperor not caring about his precious granddaughter. If he could only take her to him and show him, the emperor would stop the war for sure.

‘ _I have to get out there_ ,’ the boy thought and hurried out of the cabin and headed for Cruhteo’s office. ‘ _Something’s really off with this war_.’

The boy jogged down the corridor and up the stairs to get to his cursed lord, and once he stood outside the door to his master’s office he knocked on the thick wood with golden letters.

“ _You may enter_ ,” the man said from the other side of the closed door, and Slaine pardoned him entering the room and stepped in to stand before the cursed count with a perfectly straight back. “Slaine. Why have you come here, blood sacrifice?” he heard the unpleasant voice ask.

Cruhteo looked up from a folder of papers while sitting next to the massive office desk that was bolted to the floor.

“Please, let me avenge princess Asseylum too,” the boy said bravely. “Send me into battle, my lord.”

Cruhteo stared at him with an unimpressed glare and slowly got up from his chair. The human boy stood resolutely in place and waited. He was unsure if Cruhteo would strike him or simply test his resolve, and Slaine had to battle with the fear of facing either option. He was not allowed to cower away; he had to stay absolutely firm for the first time in his life.

The moment Cruhteo stood in front of him – towering over him like a cat guarding a cornered mouse – Slaine felt a sudden urge to take a step back. A shadow of hatred flashed in Cruhteo’s eyes, making the human boy afraid. Slaine would not back down, though.

He saw Cruhteo reach for his uniform and, before Slaine knew what was happening, he was forced down onto his back on top of the cursed man’s desk with a violent throw. Papers fluttered around them and the sound of a lonely pen rolling over the desk and dropping to the floor was the only noise in the room for a handful of seconds.

Slaine lost his breath at the impact and a massive headache made him feel nauseous; he had hit his head against the surface. Cruhteo’s hand was squeezing the boy’s uniform and pushing him mercilessly down against the wooden desk with pushing his fist against Slaine’s chest. When Slaine opened his eyes he met the crystal blue eyes of his lord.

“How dare you look at me like that, blood sacrifice?” he heard the noble man say quietly.

‘ _What…?_ ’ the boy thought confused. How had he looked at his lord to make him throw him down onto the desk like that?

“W-what do you-?” Slaine mumbled and stared at the vampire who held him down.

“Ever since you came back from the mission with Trillram your eyes have been nothing but impure,” the man said quietly.

The silent tone to his master’s voice was threatening. Cruhteo was furious and Slaine was the reason to that immense anger. It was unusual to hear Cruhteo so angry – even for Slaine.

“F-forgive me,” Slaine gasped as Cruhteo added weight onto his chest by mercilessly pressing a fist against Slaine’s ribcage.

“This war is no concern of you, blood sacrifice,” the vampire then said with a normal tone to his voice. “Your order is to-“

Slaine gathered air into his lungs to interrupt the cursed count with a loud and firm voice:

“Send me into battle!” Cruhteo stared at him with surprise, and Slaine glared back with determination. “I will fight until my last breath! Please!”

The cursed count watched him with a bored expression for a long time. Slaine stared back at him to show the man how sincere he was about being sent into battle, refusing to give in and stay put like an obedient blood sacrifice. There was no way Slaine would stay on board the ship and do nothing. Never had he felt a similar kind of need to get out there as he did now. Days earlier he would have been terrified to be sent out onto a battlefield, but now he did not hesitate.

His master released his uniform and instantly put his hand onto Slaine’s shoulder instead to keep him down. A cold shiver ran down the boy’s spine – as if a cold snake slithered down his back. The look in the man’s eyes told Slaine this was probably his last moment in life, and a sudden impulse to fight back grabbed a hold of his heart, which had grown brave. Cruhteo must have gotten tired of the boy and Slaine had probably stepped over a line he was supposed to stay behind. But he had to try- No… He _needed_ to try saving the princess!

“No!” Slaine growled and tried to push Cruhteo’s hand away. “I have no blood to give you!” the boy then yelled and clawed the cursed creature’s hand and raised a knee to the man’s chest to stop him from biting his neck. “Let me go, my lord!”

“Insolent child,” Cruhteo hissed as blood trickled down from the hand Slaine tried to claw himself free from. The fury Slaine had seen in his lord moment earlier increased and made the man’s eyes sharp like that of a monster’s. “You are not the one to decide when I will drink your blood.”

“I can’t die now, my lord!” Slaine yelled and gave up on freeing himself from Cruhteo’s hand. “I have to-!” he gasped with a strained voice and tried to crawl backwards on the desk instead as an attempt to increase the distance between them. “-get out there!”

‘ _I can’t die now!_ ’ the boy thought with desperation and felt fear shake him up. ‘ _Don’t be afraid of him!_ ’

Cruhteo’s eyebrows lowered and the anger was finally shown honestly on his face. With brutal force he pushed aside Slaine’s knee, which had been holding him back, and closed the gap between them. He grabbed the boy’s wrists and pinned them against the large wooden desk with a harsh grip, crucifying the boy onto the spontaneous altar, and leaned over him. Slaine kicked and fought to the best of his abilities, but the position he was in – with his legs forced apart by Cruhteo standing between them, and his arms spread wide – gave his muscles limited amount of strength. The only thing it resulted in was him growing exhausted, and within moments he gave up and stared at his hunter with a chest heaving from strained breaths.

“Stop…” he breathed with a thick sensation of frustration and fright pooling in the back of his throat.

“I have had enough of you, boy,” Cruhteo hissed dangerously. His breath collided with Slaine’s cheeks. “You have insulted and defiled me and my pride for the last time. I had hoped you would have been fed on by Trillram until you died, and since he failed I shall end you myself.”

‘ _Traitor!_ ’ Slaine thought and glared at the vampire. ‘ _You sent me out there to die for a man who wished to kill the princess on your order! How dare you, you goddamned traitor!? You are insulting her highness and you are defiling her wish and dream of peace!_ ’

“LET ME GO!” Slaine yelled as fear turned into anger, and he began kicking and struggling once again. Flight had turned into fight. His voice tore at his throat and parched it as he screamed: “HER HIGHNESS WISHED-!”

He was interrupted by a much stronger voice, which bounced around in the room and made Slaine’s ears ring:

“ _DO NOT DARE TO SPEAK ABOUT HER HIGHNESS IN MY PRESENCE!_ ” Slaine stared at his master whose eyes burned while looking at him. The cursed count’s eyes were so heavy with fury it felt as if boiling water was poured onto the boy’s skin as it grew hot from shock. “You are _nothing_ but a blood sacrifice! How dare you even think the thought of you of all creatures being able to avenge her death!? You are cattle and no soldier! There is no value to your life among us! When her highness was alive her happiness was the sole thing that kept you breathing, but now you have no purpose any longer, filthy human!”

Those words hit him like needles and nails and Slaine could only stare at the cursed man. The boy had always known he had no true value in the cursed society and the only reason he had been allowed to live after his father’s death had simply been to let the princess have her happiness of saving him. Asseylum had known, after listening to the nobles speak about the human boy who had lived in the royal palace with the princess, that the human boy would have been killed the moment Slaine’s father had died. Knowing this, she saved him by have him be the symbol of her happiness and wish for peace. Due to great kindness only she was able to show, she had kept him safe by making him into someone she cared deeply for, and everyone had learned about this affection and mostly left Slaine alone.

‘ _Princess…!_ ’

Now that Cruhteo put it so frankly Slaine felt the reality of the knowledge he had always had. For a moment he felt as if nothing he did had any worth and his life was something no one cared to preserve. The timid boy Slaine originally was came forth from those harsh words. It hit him how lonely he truly was. Asseylum had been his entire world from the moment she had saved him at the beach five years ago. His protection in the entire community of cursed creatures and everything that had made his world true and livable had been taken away. The human boy was alone in trying to stop a war, and now it seemed as if he had come to the end of the road. The princess’s protection could not reach him now.

‘ _I can’t die…! Not as long as she’s in danger!_ ’

“My lord…” the boy said with a voice trembling as he changed his tactics. “I’m so sorry… Forgive me…”

“Are you pathetically asking for mercy?” the cruel Cruhteo asked with a voice that had returned to normal.

“Y-yes…” the human boy whispered. “Please… Don’t destroy me like this…”

“How unsightly,” the man scoffed and leaned closer to the left side of Slaine’s neck – so close his chilly undead breath tickled against Slaine’s jaw. “You die here.”

Slaine stared up at the ceiling as Cruhteo’s cold lips pushed down the collar of his uniform to bare the boy’s white skin. If he let Cruhteo drink his blood now, the cursed count would be drinking tainted blood; the medication was still in Slaine’s system. That would mean Cruhteo was incapacitated for a long time and Slaine would get a chance to escape from the ship. But where would he go? He had no idea where the princess was taken and how he could find her.

“ _My lord Cruhteo_ ,” a voice said in the radio next to Slaine’s right ear. Cruhteo raised his head to look at it and Slaine’s breaths were caught in his throat from the surprise. “ _The pilot of Sir Vlad’s escort mission has contacted us. The enemy is closing in on Countess Femianne’s territory._ ”

Slaine watched Cruhteo stare at the radio for a while. The boy conveniently got his first clue to where he could find the princess! The countess’s territory was supposed to be at the southern tip of Japan, and Slaine knew Vlad had gone out to even out the score between him and the human boy clad in orange – probably the same boy Slaine had seen carrying Asseylum away in Shinawara. That boy knew where the princess was and Slaine had to find him.

Cruhteo let go of Slaine’s right arm to answer the radio call, and Slaine decided to wait obediently. Cruhteo ordered the crew on board the helicopter to stay away from Countess Femianne’s territory to avoid tension between the cursed nobles. Once the man had acknowledged Cruhteo’s order, the cursed count turned his attention back to the boy who was lying beneath him with vacant eyes. Slaine raised his gaze to look at the man with a last pleading look to hide the once again growing resolve, and saw Cruhteo lower his fangs to the left side of his neck again.

“My lord…” Slaine whispered and relaxed in the cursed man’s grip.

The cruel Cruhteo did not pay him any mind and fangs punctured Slaine’s already sore neck. The boy released a whimpering yelp and felt the cursed count’s venom numb his mind. The sound of blood flowing through the wounds echoed in his skull and his body slowly became cold. However, after a couple of gulps, Cruhteo released the boy with a sudden movement and took a couple of steps back. The vampire stared at his prey with shock and suddenly sunk down onto his knees from weakness.

“What-!?” Slaine heard Cruhteo exclaim and cough from nausea hitting him. After a short moment Slaine’s mind began to wake up from the venom, and he desperately tried to force his mind awake. “What have you … done to your blood, boy!?” Cruhteo hissed and leaned against his arms on the floor.

As Slaine regained his own will he drunkenly pushed himself up from the desk – slowly with weak arms – and stared at the cursed count falling face down onto the floor. The boy stood up and carefully walked over to his former lord while keeping an eye on his movements, but Cruhteo was weak enough he could barely speak. The bloodied needle-like fangs gleamed in the fluorescent lights from above between the cursed man’s bloodstained lips.

“I won’t let you continue this war if I can stop it,” Slaine said coldly and shook his head to clear his mind. “I have … to fulfill the princess’s dream.”

“C-curse you…!” Cruhteo growled weakly and Slaine looked at him without empathy.

“You should have done that a long time ago, or you should have killed me the first time you threatened to do it,” Slaine answered and felt the power of hate flow in him again. It boiled so hotly his veins were scorched from the inside and his heart was on fire. “I will let you live to experience the humiliation you have brought upon yourself with this war,” he then hissed before he left the cursed count’s office and headed for the flight deck.

†††

The loud bangs were heard from the corridor behind him as he ran toward the anchor room with legs that screamed and protested due to the lactic acid tiring them. Rayet was trying to keep the raging cursed knight away from Inaho while the boy would prepare the anchor room for its prisoner.

The plan Inaho had developed in his mind had turned out to be more difficult than he had expected; the cursed knight was solely after the boy to avenge his damaged pride and was chasing him with worse manners than a bloodhound. The vampire was fired up and infuriated while chasing Inaho like a deranged animal, constantly getting too close for comfort – until Rayet caught up with them after being brutally thrown aside time and time again. Inaho managed to stay alive somehow, but would have certainly been killed without Rayet’s protection.

The cursed knight had immediately recognized Inaho the moment the boy and Rayet had met him in the corridor on the deck above. The human soldiers had tried to aid Inaho when he came running down the corridor with the cursed knight after him, but Inaho had quickly yelled to them to stay away since the bullets risked hitting him as well.

The brunet dashed into the anchor room and breathed violently while he looked around. Two great anchor chains were stretched across the room and powerful windlasses stood silent in the back. The boy quickly thought of what to do. Rayet was just outside fighting the cursed creature, holding him off, and the loud bangs continued against the bulkheads outside as they fought on unequal terms.

‘ _We need to get him off the ship! I can’t lock him up like this!_ ’ Inaho thought stressed.

It was impossible to lock the vampire in the room since he was too quick to breathe down Inaho’s neck each time the brunet tried to get away. Rayet had been tirelessly fighting away the cursed knight to give Inaho a few more steps to run before the cursed knight would catch up to him again, and then she would fight him away once more. That tight cycle had been repeated so many times now Inaho was sure Rayet was exhausted and forced every last drop of strength out of her tired body.

Inaho stared at the anchor chain for a while as the cogwheels whirred in his mind. He remembered a captain showing the anchor room of a ship during a field trip with his class. The man had said the anchor chain was never to be touched if there was no good reason to since it was under great tension; an accident could turn out to be ugly and horrible if the anchor accidentally dropped.

‘ _The chain!_ ’ the boy thought and ran up to the windlass control panel. Inaho knew nothing about how it functioned and he quickly raised the radio to his lips.

“Bridge!” he said hurriedly, out of breath. “Quickly! How do I drop anchor?”

“ _We can control it from the bridge_ ,” he heard the captain answer. “ _What do you need?_ ”

“Help me prepare to drop portside anchor,” Inaho hurried to say and looked toward the door leading out into the corridor where he heard Rayet and the enemy fight. “Guide me! Quickly!”

“ _Back away from the chain_ ,” he heard as an answer and soon he heard a low whirr from the deck below him. The hydraulic machinery had been turned on and the windlass began to move, pulling the chain up just slightly. A loud clatter echoed in the room as the anchor chain moved. “ _There is a devil’s claw chain stopper securing the chain from dropping. It looks like a long metal device attached to the chain. Release its shackle around the chain_ ,” the captain then guided him.

Inaho hurried over to the chain and found the chain stopper that kept the anchor chain safely locked in position, and began releasing it by screwing the shackle open. A laugh echoed from the corridor outside right after a loud bang from something heavy being thrown, and the laugh entered the anchor room. Inaho looked up at the cursed knight walking toward him with a wide grin on his lips and blood covering his uniform. Rayet was nowhere to be seen and the brunet could not stop with his plan; all Inaho could do was to hurry releasing the chain stopper and continue on as best as he could.

“Dim-witted boy!” the cursed knight said amused and slowly walked toward Inaho. “Are you not interested in preserving your life?”

The enemy was in no hurry, probably due to him knowing Inaho had nowhere to run. Inaho on the other hand was hurrying and turned the bolt on the shackle as fast as he could, and moments later the devil’s claw clattered heavily onto the floor between his feet. He looked up at the cursed creature walking toward him, and Inaho raised the radio again.

“The claw is released,” he said while his eyes were locked to the cursed knight’s.

“ _The anchor is now ready to be dropped_ ,” the captain answered.

Inaho’s heart pulsated wildly, hard enough his voice shook with the heartbeats as he told the captain to wait dropping anchor until he said so. He was trapped in the anchor room with the cursed knight patiently walking closer with a sneer on his lips. There was nothing the boy could use as a weapon except a wrench and other small tools; apparently tools were hardly needed to drop anchor. It made Inaho’s situation of facing a cursed creature difficult and impossible. He needed Rayet to help him; her strength would give him the opportunity to do what he had to, but she was nowhere to be seen.

‘ _What do I do now?_ ’ he thought and backed away while glaring at the cursed knight who would loom over him within a couple of breaths.

“I must admit your last trick was simple but highly effective. It was painful,” the noble knight said and looked at Inaho with hungry eyes. “I will be sure to enjoy your blood until the last drop, as revenge for what you did.”

Inaho had to move away from the bulkhead that was closing in on him as he backed away from his enemy, and ran to his right. He heard two loud steps and a heartbeat later the cursed knight landed in front of him, cutting the boy off from his escape route. Inaho’s breath was caught in his throat from the surprise and he turned around to run the other way, but he was quickly intercepted again.

“Stop playing games, boy,” the vampire scoffed with amusement and stared at Inaho with victory gleaming in his eyes.

The creature reached out a hand to take a hold of the brunet, and Inaho quickly backed away. The vampire took a step closer and made another attempt, and Inaho backed away once again. It was an awkward game they played by repeating their movements over and over again with Inaho’s life as a wager. The fear threatened to paralyze the boy and Inaho knew the creature probably knew this as well; the reason to why they played this strange game of tag. The creature was stimulating Inaho’s flight mode and urged him to try to escape by tickling that part of the human brain, giving the boy a false sense of still having control over the situation. Once that control was taken away Inaho knew he would lose the fight against his own fear and stiffen from terror, leaving him helpless to resist the cursed knight’s deadly fangs.

“You know you have nowhere to run,” the vampire said while smiling viciously.

“I know,” Inaho answered and backed away from the creature that stretched out its claws toward him.

Inaho skipped away and listened to the cursed creature chuckle:

“Then why do you keep evading me? You know you will die in this room by my fangs.”

Inaho watched a wide grin spread on the creature’s face and before he had had the time to figure out why his enemy smiled like that his heel was caught in something and he lost his balance. He fell backward and slammed against the cold floor, and the cursed creature seized the chance to attack him. Panic erupted in Inaho’s mind and heart as the heaviness of his deadly enemy covered him, and he quickly tried to push the cursed creature away. His enemy grappled him down against the floor and put weight on him to hinder Inaho from getting up or escaping, and for the first time Inaho was completely consumed by fear.

It was different to what he had felt when Rayet had attacked him. It was different to what he had felt when facing the cursed baron. This enemy was not an ally like Rayet, and the enemy he faced now had him in his grip unlike the cursed baron had. Inaho was completely on his own now, overwhelmed by this cursed knight’s intensions and grip.

He thrashed around in the creature’s grip like a wild animal and the panic grew the more he fought and failed to escape. He tried kicking but the damage he did was so meager the creature did not care the slightest, and he tried to claw at him to no avail. The boy wanted to scream to attract any kind of support, but no voice came forth. He was completely silenced by fear, and the cursed creature seemed bored by his quietness.

“Why not try to scream and see if someone comes to help you?” the cursed creature asked and chuckled arrogantly. “Make a little noise so your comrades will hear you. Give me the pleasure of hearing you scream for your life.”

Without thinking Inaho raised his hands to push his thumbs into the cursed knight’s eyes, but his enemy took a hold of his hair and slammed his head against the floor. The impact made the brunet’s brain bounce in the skull and everything went white for a moment. Nausea welled up in his throat and the smell of blood spread in his nose. His entire face was tingling and his body went limp.

“Good boy,” the cursed knight purred somewhere above him, barely audible from the strong pulse beating away in the human boy’s ears. “Stay still and let me eat you alive. I am done toying with you.”

Inaho’s sight came hazily back and he saw the shadowy face of his opponent getting closer. A cold hand was fumbling with the zipper to Inaho’s sweater to open it and give the enemy access to his neck, and Inaho took a deep breath to clear his mind. He had to do something quickly before the creature bit him. He was lying right next to the anchor chain and had no radio in his hand; he had dropped it when he fell. He could not call for help.

‘ _I have to do this on my own. But what do I do?_ ’

“Stop…!” Inaho gasped and tried to push the creature away, but he was too weak.

The fingers barely managed to take a hold of the cursed knight’s uniform and the boy’s attempts of escape were of no concern to the creature. Instead Inaho looked around to see if he could find anything that would help him, and his eyes landed on Rayet who lay on the floor and was glaring at them from the door; she was wounded with blood flowing down her face.

‘ _Help!_ ’ Inaho desperately thought and looked at her, but to his surprise he saw the cursed girl raise a hand to her lips to shush him; she asked him not to call for help. Inaho had to trust her. Whatever she was thinking he had to show trust in her ability to save him despite he wanted to call for help due to fear.

“ _Drop anchor?_ ” she asked quietly with only lips moving, and Inaho frowned.

Did she understand what he had been going to do? Had she heard him when he had spoken to the captain in the radio earlier? Inaho nodded to her and then heard the zipper to his sweater be pulled down. Cool air caressed his chest that was left covered with the thin layer of fabric of a t-shirt. He had to stop the cursed knight in some way to buy time, but how? The radio called for him as the captain was trying to ask what was going on due to Inaho’s long silence.

“Don’t!” Inaho finale exclaimed with a slurred voice and tried to push him up from the floor. He had to make as much noise he could to distract the cursed knight from Rayet, who had begun to sneak into the anchor room. The boy used his fear as fuel to keep himself strong enough to struggle, and panic began to grow once again. “My blood is no good for you! I don’t maintain it!”

“Shut up, human!” the cursed creature said frustrated as Inaho had begun to fight back again. “I would like to refrain from knocking you out, so stay still and let me feast on you!”

“NO!”

Inaho pulled at the white scarf that was tucked into the cursed knight’s uniform and managed to get it free. The vampire raised a hand and slapped the human boy over his cheek to punish him, but Inaho did not stop. He reached behind the creature and hurried to entangle the ends of the scarf into a chain link on the anchor chain, while struggling as much as possible to distract the cursed knight from what he was doing. The vampire’s patience was wiped out after a while and he pulled Inaho up from the floor and sunk his fangs into the left side of the boy’s neck with no hesitation.

Inaho winced from the unpleasant surprise.

“Agh!”

The boy was not prepared for the stabbing sensation that threw his entire being into shock before he was numbed by the vampire’s venom. He released a whimpering gasp before he went limp in the hungry creature’s arms and became nothing but void once again. The sound of his blood flowing out of the puncture wounds echoed in his head, and he listened to his enemy swallow it down with greed. His left side began to go cold.

Then – out of nowhere – a loud and metallic rattle exploded in the room that escalated for each moment that went by, and a violent tug pulled at his neck and his body was released from the cursed creature. As he fell limply onto the floor a scream echoed somewhere among the deafening sound of chains rattling before going quiet, and red drops landed on Inaho’s face. When Inaho slowly came to he saw the heavy anchor chain rush next to him uncontrollably. The entire room echoed with the rattle and red dust flew around him from the rust from the anchor chain, and an acrid smell of burning grease filled the air. When he looked up toward the windlass he saw it was slightly burning from rotating too fast as the anchor chain rushed through it.

“INAHO!” he heard Rayet yell and the brunet looked up at a girl that jumped over the rushing chain and grabbed a hold of the boy. “We need to get away!”

Inaho was still affected by the venom and she ordered him to move. Inaho tried his best to comply obediently and got up on his legs. Rayet guided him out of the room and the boy mindlessly followed her as his will was yet to return completely. When they got out of the room something snapped brutally somewhere in the deck below, and a couple of deafening bangs were heard from the room before it went completely silent.

Inaho’s ears rang from the loud noise they had been subjected to and once his mind cleared completely he staggered over to the door into the anchor room. The chain was gone and so was the cursed knight. A pool of blood surrounded the hawse pipe where the anchor chain had disappeared through into the sea. The knight had been dragged along with the chain, just like Inaho had planned from the start, and probably been decapitated by the scarf the boy had tangled into the chain link. There was no way to know for sure, though, since there was no body to examine. It did not matter, however; the cursed knight had probably been dragged down with the chain to the bottom of the sea where he was to rest for an eternity. The red drops that had fallen onto Inaho’s face were possibly from the enemy’s body being ripped apart as it had been forced through the narrow hawse pipe.

The brunet walked into the dusty room and looked around. The bulkheads wore marks on them from the end of the chain whipping across the room before disappearing through the hawse pipe. The force had been incredible; the bulkheads had large bumps in them with paint that had been blown off. The boy staggered over to the radio still lying on the floor and brushed the red dust off of it before he tried to call the bridge:

“Kaizuka Junior reporting to bridge. We lost an anchor and the enemy is now incapacitated,” he said and heard the captain answer him with a shocked voice, asking the boy how he was doing. The loud noise must have been heard throughout the entire ship.

“Inaho…” he heard Rayet say behind him, and Inaho turned to look at her instead of answering the captain.

He feared her and backed away.

“I can’t give you blood,” the brunet said and staggered. “If you attack me I will have to-“

“I won’t attack you,” Rayet interrupted him. “I’m somewhat fine right now from all the blood I stole from you last night. But… You can’t be my blood sacrifice alone. We have to tell the captain about me,” she then said with a sorrowful smile on her lips. “You need help with maintaining me.”

“They will kill you,” the boy warned her.

“Probably…”

Someone ran in the corridor outside and when Inaho and Rayet looked up at the door Yuki came running inside the room and looked around with a horrified expression.

“NAO!” she shouted and ran up to him to steady him. “What happened!? I heard this loud rattle as if the anchor was dropped!”

Inaho was too tired to explain anything and listened to Rayet tell the worried woman what she needed to know. Inaho was surprised of hearing that Rayet had knowledge of how to operate a windlass, and when she was questioned about it she told them she had been living on a freight ship with her father. It was probably the ship where the assassination had been planned as well, Inaho figured.

‘ _No one would have heard you out here at sea…_ ’ Inaho thought.

“You’re so brave, Nao,” Yuki sighed. “And so reckless and thoughtless! What if you would have died!?”

‘ _What if I would have died?_ ’ Inaho thought and felt how real her worry became; it affected him as well and he became anxious.

“Yuki-nee…” the boy whispered and was suddenly interrupted and forced to lean forward as something pushing in his throat.

He vomited and lost all strength in his body, and Yuki lowered him onto his knees on the dusty floor while holding his shoulders tenderly. The shock of what had happened was too much for the boy. Inaho had been so afraid and been through so much during a short period of time that he could not contain all of it without reacting violently. He felt sick and tired, and vomited a second time until stomach acid was the only thing that came out.

Yuki’s arms coiled around him and pulled him into a tight hug when he was allowed to relax again after vomiting. She held him for a while and let her fingers brush through Inaho’s dusty hair. Her scent calmed Inaho’s mind as it reminded him about home and, at that moment, all of his fears disappeared and he gathered his sanity. Yuki’s fingers caressed him down to his cheek and neck, and that was where they stopped. A stinging sensation followed her touch and Inaho frowned.

“What is this?” she asked worriedly and pushed Inaho away to have a look, and her eyes widened the moment she saw the two pairs of puncture wounds on his neck. One pair was still bleeding, while the other pair had begun to heal. “Have you been bitten just now!?”

“Yuki…” Inaho gasped and met his sister’s stern expression.

“Answer me! Have you been poisoned again!?” his sister demanded, and Inaho nodded. His sister’s eyes widened with horror.

“I need help…” he gasped and trembled like during a fever. “Yuki-nee… Rayet is hungry…”

‘ _I can’t do this alone and I’m too scared_ ,’ the boy thought. ‘ _Someone, help me!_ ’

†††

A gunshot was heard and the bullet missed him and bounced against the asphalt of the flight deck. Slaine had just managed to release the aircraft he had chosen to hijack from the wires and breaks holding it secured on the deck before he had been discovered by the crew. He quickly climbed on board while a second bullet dashed next to the helmet he wore, and he hurried to close the canopy and start the battery of the aircraft.

The storm had begun to calm down which made his liftoff much easier. Usually the aircrafts needed the deck crew to launch the aircrafts into the air by the catapult system on board, but with this aircraft the liftoff could be done differently. Cruhteo had four prototype F-35B Lightning II aircrafts on board out of 80 jet aircrafts and helicopters in total, and were some of the most expensive equipment on board the aircraft carrier. The aircraft was equipped with the STOVL system, which used thrusting vectoring to make the aircraft hover in one spot, and was on its later stages of testing. Slaine would attempt to use this kind of aircraft for the first time.

The boy had only read about it in manuals on board and had listened to the pilots, who were trained in flying the F-35B aircrafts, talking about the liftoff and landing process by bragging about how advanced the F-35B’s were compared to the other fighter aircrafts on board. It was still a too young aircraft to have properly gone through testing in the harsh environment of war, and was new enough that it could not be considered completely reliable.

If the circumstances had been different – with Slaine’s mind still intact as it had been before this maddening war had begun – the boy would have been afraid of attempting to takeoff with such an advanced aircraft. Now, however, Slaine felt he had nothing to lose and the fear was nothing but simple nervousness. He started the aircraft’s system and steered it toward the flight deck where Versian soldiers were running around while trying to figure out what to do now that an aircraft had been hijacked. Slaine had to be quick before Cruhteo would order the cannons to be directed at him, and he started the engine.

The high pitched scream of the engine was heard in the aircraft as the jet woke up, and he remembered back to the manuals he had read about the takeoff process. It was supposed to be easy with a computer doing all the work compared to the previous Harrier aircrafts, which needed constant attention during hovering. The system in the F-35B it was so advanced it was up to the pilot to simply make a decision of where to go. It was supposed to be easy enough to learn how to fly it that brand new pilots would be able to learn how operate it within minutes.

Slaine pushed a button at his left to open up the lift fan doors behind the cockpit at the top and bottom of the plane, just like in the manual he had read a while ago. Then he checked the fuel and system before he decided to attempt to perform a short liftoff. If he failed in any way he would crash into the sea and, with that knowledge in mind, he had to steel himself for the liftoff. The crew outside began to raise the jet blast deflectors on the flight deck to stop Slaine from taking off, and the boy had to hurry before the deflectors were completely raised and blocked the path on the runway.

He started the lift fans and pushed the jet engine to full without hesitation, and the aircraft began to accelerate. He gritted his teeth from nervousness and watched the blast deflectors that rose tiredly. He forced the aircraft to lift and after fighting against gravity for a short moment the aircraft took off and rose up toward the sky. A great sense of freedom coursed through the boy and he took a couple of deep breaths to release the tension.

He would never return to V.E.S. Tharsis, nor would he return to the cursed creatures unless his secretly beloved asked him to. Freedom was right before him; he was allowed to be what he was instead of being forced into a role he hated. To get to where he was now he had been forced to kill Trillram and humiliate Cruhteo, as well as hijack one of the most expensive aircrafts in the world. All the crimes did not matter, however; he felt like the king of the sky.

†††

“I heard you made us lose an anchor,” he heard a female voice say behind him while the leftover winds from the night’s storm caressed his hair.

Inaho stood at the aft of the ship, leaning against the railing and watched the wake trailing behind the ship. The churning and eddying of the water had been relaxing to watch while trying to find a moment of quietude in the chilly autumn sea air. It had given the brunet time to think and ponder on what had happened the past few days.

Inko appeared next to him, leaning against the railing as well with her feminine fingers holding the iron in front of her.

“It had to be done,” the brunet said quietly and continued watching the wake. Inko looked at what he was watching and was silent for a while. Inaho interpreted her sudden appearance as carrying news, and her silence as her trying to withhold these news from him. “What is it?” he asked after waiting for a while, and Inko jumped and chuckled nervously.

“W-well! The captain… Uh… She told us all to gather in the briefing room,” she answered.

“Why?” Inaho asked immediately, and once again Inko hesitated.

The girl had a habit of doing that whenever she was either to reveal something embarrassing or when she was the bearer of bad news, and Inaho had the feeling that whatever she had to tell him was of the latter.

“We’ll … be recruited as soldiers…” the girl said quietly with a trembling voice. “The war is spreading across the world; I heard a city in US was attacked and Finland and the Baltic countries have been taken over by Vers.”

“The war is spreading this fast?” Inaho asked and looked up at the girl, who nodded. “It’s as if the entire cursed nation chose so sacrifice their princess simply to get an excuse to begin a war again.”

Inko sighed heavily and relaxed her shoulders. She looked tired.

“Why are they insisting on this war? Why do the cursed want us so badly?” she asked and tears welled up in her eyes. “We’ve lost everything and they’re not satisfied.”

“Of course not,” Inaho answered. “They need to survive, just like we do. We, as their only food source, are their prey and they are our predators. They have no choice but to try and take us by force since we’re resisting them to survive.”

“Inaho…” the girl said and looked at him with sorrowful eyes. Something gentle glowed in her gaze. “I had hoped we wouldn’t be forced to become soldiers because I don’t want to see you or anyone I know die. I can’t bear watching it happen. Stop these crazy stunts you’re doing…”

Inaho looked at Inko as she began to cry and saw the fear replace the gentleness in the eyes of his childhood friend. He wondered what to do since he himself never cried. There was no moment in his memory where he had cried. What did a person who cried need in order to stop crying? Inko’s tears were a healthy reaction to an overwhelming situation, and the brunet decided to let her cry. Instead he took her hand and walked with her indoors to reunite with the others and listen to the captain speak to them as soldiers.

The briefing room was filled with people; many of the evacuees were there as well. Most of them were adults but some were kids in Inaho’s age. It was ridiculous how the UN thought; how easily they threw away the convention of children’s rights the moment their manpower was petering out. The legal and ethical rights children had were overwritten the moment the human world needed soldiers. In a sense, Inaho could understand it after everything he had seen; the military was ridiculously ineffective when fighting individual cursed creatures, and the cursed knew this. Silver was a great tool in a fight but the problem was to hit the creatures. The UN had to reform their military and go from peacekeeping into an offensive strategy; there was no peace to uphold anymore since it had been stolen away by the vampires. The humans simply had to take it back by force.

Once the briefing was over and the uniforms and duties had been handed out, Inaho stood in the hangar with his friends and listened to Calm loudly complain about being put into the engine maintenance team. The western boy was sitting on a cargo box with his fists in the air, grumbling about not being allowed to be put into a position where he was allowed to kill cursed creatures.

“Well, your engineering grades _did_ outshine your combat skills,” Inko said with a slight smile as an attempt to comfort their disappointed friend. She had been assigned for the cargo maintenance, Inaho for the deck maintenance team, and Nina had been ordered to stay on the bridge. They all wore their respective uniforms and Inaho was back in the orange deck overalls. “The maintenance team is crucial to the military; without it everything will fall apart,” Inko continued.

Calm put his hands onto his hips that were covered by the blue overalls, and glowered at the girl.

“How can I blow away the enemy if I’m stuck in the engine room?” he asked and grumbled.

“Woah! At ease, soldier,” they heard a man say behind them, and everyone looked up at their former instructor who had overheard them speaking once again.

Marito walked up to them and Inko, Nina and Clam quickly saluted him. Inaho figured he might as well follow his friends’ example, and raised a hand to his forehead. It felt awkward and like a waste of time, Inaho thought, but stepped into the line of a soldier now that he was officially of a lower rank than the lieutenant.

“Lieutenant Marito,” Calm said, suddenly with his grumpy voice turned into a strict voice of someone greeting another of a higher rank.

“No one has seen action in the past 15 years. The last humans who did are all dead,” the man said with the voice of an instructor rather than a lieutenant. “Don’t you think it’s a little too hasty of you to want to dash out into battle just like that? While the enemy consists of vampires who still remember the blood-boiling thrill of a war, our side consists of nothing but virgins like you,” he said with a wide grin. “It’s not safe out there, kid.”

Inaho could vote for that and agreed with Marito to some degree. What he could not agree with was the virgin part.

“Not all are virgins,” Inaho said and heard Inko and Nina release a surprised yelp, and Calm gasped.

“I-Inaho!?” Nina exclaimed and blushed horribly.

“Y-you…!? Since when!?” Calm burst out with shock and nearly fell off from the cargo box while staring at Inaho with disbelief.

‘ _What?_ ’ Inaho wondered but continued:

“You survived, Lieutenant Marito. Didn’t you?” the brunet asked.

Inko and Nina released a relieved sigh while Calm chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck from embarrassment.

‘ _What did I say now?_ ’ Inaho wondered and looked at his strangely behaving friends.

“That’s not what the record books say,” the man said still with the smirk on his lips, but this time with his brows furrowed. “The Tanegashima report I wrote was swept under the rug.”

Calm tilted his head with confusion.

“Tanegashima … report?” he asked and thought.

“According to the textbooks at school there’s supposed to be a deserted military base at the island,” Inko said. “It’s been abandoned for years and years.”

“It’s the military base where an accident occurred sixteen years ago,” Inaho said, but Marito chuckled and sighed.

“An accident? I guess that’s how it’s told,” Marito said and grinned. “I was just a kid when the war broke out, but once I as a teenager was recruited into the navy I did my first deployment on a destroyer that was on a mission to protect a convoy of commercial freight ships loaded with precious materials, headed for that base. We were attacked; it was not an accident with a bomb dropping at a miscalculated place,” the man explained and looked serious. “We’re headed toward Tanegashima right now and will arrive shortly.”

There had been no words about the ship changing course, which made the man’s words into a surprise. They were supposed to be headed toward South Korea, but apparently a new order had reached the ship that had been kept a secret for some reason.

“The attack sunk the cargo ships and we lost all the materials, and the destroyer where I was deployed sunk as well after being hit by a missile. Everyone on board either died in the explosion or went down with the ship. I miraculously survived in a leaking life raft and wrote a report of what I had witnessed once I was saved, but it was dismissed as alarmist delusional nonsense,” the lieutenant said with an exacerbated sigh.

“In other words there’s something at the island that is supposed to be kept a secret,” Inaho said as he thought. He saw Marito’s face turn into surprise. “There’s no other reason to keep attention away from the island like that.”

They arrived to port of the island of Tanegashima during the evening when the sun had begun to give way for the moon, and the ship was moored to the dock. The first thing Inaho and his friends saw were empty military facilities at the base of a mountain. Further away an abandoned town was seen among the trees. It had probably been the town where the families to the people working on the island had lived, and it looked like a ghost town with buildings falling apart due to the strong winds from the sea. Inaho and his friends were ordered to stay on the ship while soldiers went out to secure the area. They were all dressed in their respective uniforms.

“I wonder why we were ordered to stop here at Tanegashima,” Calm said and played with a divider that was used to plot a course on nautical charts.

They were on the bridge making Nina company as she had been ordered to stay on duty in case there was an emergency. No one was expecting an emergency, which made her duty pointless in a sense; they simply told her to stay put and out of the way by placing her on the bridge while the grownups secured the area around the ship.

Calm slumped over the chart table and Inko sat in a chair next to Nina in front of the modern helm, while Inaho was standing next to the radar with binoculars, looking out at the horizon.

“Maybe there’s ammunition to find here?” Nina asked. “It’s abandoned but maybe there’s stuff we can resupply with?”

“Could be,” Inko said. “Inaho, you said something about a secret lying here.”

Inaho did not lower the binoculars as he answered:

“It was a thought. I actually have no idea what lies here or why Lieutenant Marito’s report was dismissed.”

“Well!” Calm exclaimed and stood up to walk over to the portholes and look out through them to gaze at the horizon. “I don’t mind stopping here either way. It’s peaceful,” the boy said. “And I think we all need a break for a little while.”

“Yeah,” Nina mumbled. “It has been tense the past few days, hasn’t it?”

“Tense? It’s been exhausting!” Calm said. “And poor Inaho has been facing the monster attacking us head on _twice_.”

“It’s a miracle you’re still alive, Inaho,” Inko said. There was certain warmness to her tone Inaho heard now and then. It was the same warmness she had expressed out on the deck earlier that day and back in their school armory. “No more crazy adventures, all right? You were signed for the deck team so you should let the grownups handle this war from now on.”

Inaho did not answer her. He had not planned on being a simple deck crew considering the inexperienced soldiers that lacked bravery and tactics to fight a monster like a cursed creature. Inaho would keep fighting; he had his sister’s blessing and that was all he needed to stay sane in this foolish war. The more the brunet thought about it the more sense it made: There had not been a war for 15 years, like Lieutenant Marito had said earlier, and the soldiers who now served in the war had no experience of something as unpredictable as a cursed creature. It was one thing to stand and shoot at a training facility, but to face a target that was chaotic and horrifying was a completely different thing.

“You hear me, Inaho?” Inko asked as the brunet had not answered her.

Inaho stared at a shadow in the horizon and lowered the binoculars to look at the radar. Dots were moving closer. They had the symbol of unknown objects.

“I can’t promise anything like that,” the brunet said and raised the binoculars once again to look at whatever was getting closer to them. “I think an enemy has arrived.”

“Again!?” Calm yelled and hurried to join Inaho at the porthole to look at whatever Inaho was looking at. “What is that?”

“Some kind of aircrafts, I think,” Inaho said and lowered the binoculars. “We need to notify the captain.”

The moment they got a hold of the captain by calling for her in the radio, a commotion began both inside and outside the ship. Inaho was quick to get to the armory and get a gun with silver bullets and extra magazines, and then he hurried out onto the dock where soldiers were preparing themselves. The cannons of the ship where directed toward what turned out to be five helicopters, but the enemy did not turn around to leave despite the powerful threat facing them. The violent beatings of the helicopters’ propellers were whipping in the air, creating an aggressive sound that attacked the boy’s ears. They moved quickly closer and the pipe of machine guns were seen through the openings in the helicopters. A burgundy coat fluttered in the first arriving rotorcraft and Inaho felt his knees quiver for a second.

‘ _A cursed countess?!_ ’ he thought horrified as he stared at the female vampire gazing down from the helicopter, dressed in sun protective gear. He had only met a baron and a knight until now. This time he had to face a countess who was probably a second or third generation vampire. He hesitated about fighting her since it would certainly be impossible. There was no way a human could fight a cursed countess head on.

A turret on the ship shot a shell directed toward the helicopters, but the enemy evaded it by steering the rotorcrafts to the side, breaking their formation. The machine gun on board the enemy helicopters began shooting at the ship and dock. Once they hovered above ground, Inaho saw the countess jump down along with a dozen of other cursed soldiers – all dressed in sun protective gear – and land about 30 meters away from him. Guns went on around him, and bullets rained over the cursed creatures. Some were hit and screamed and growled from pain, while others dashed toward the human soldiers.

‘ _What do I do!?_ ’ the brunet thought while he shot toward the enemy, and saw the countess attack the first human soldier who was closest to her, ripping the soldier’s throat into shreds with such violence a brief rain of blood covered the area. ‘ _Rayet can’t move outside during daylight since she has nothing to protect her from the sun. I’m on my own_.’ Besides, Rayet needed to rest; she was exhausted despite Yuki – after a long time of thought – had sacrificed blood to her in Inaho’s place.

If only he had the strength of a vampire that allowed him to be strong enough to face her in a fight; all he could do as a human was to run until he was caught.

The ship’s turrets were firing shells toward the helicopters that evaded them as if nothing. The turrets were too slow and no one had managed to man the ship’s machine guns yet. People on deck were dodging and trying to escape the enemy’s machine gun bullets, while others made attempts at heroism by determinedly running toward the ship’s guns and were shot down in the process.

Inaho raised his gun and aimed toward the cursed countess, specifically aiming for her head. He knew the moment he shot the first bullet the enemy would turn her attention to him, and so he steeled himself and took a deep breath, preparing to run away right after the first shot.

‘ _I have to run away from the ship_ ,’ Inaho thought and hoped he would get assistance from the soldiers left on the dock. ‘ _The soldiers are a lesser problem compared to the countess; she needs to be lured away from the ship. She’s not allowed to find Seylum!_ ’

The brunet pulled the trigger and the gun made a loud attacking sound as it released the bullet from the nozzle, and the recoil made his hands tingle. The cursed countess dodged the bullet just like she did with every bullet flying toward her, as if she was able to foretell them by merely listening to them approaching. The bullet obviously missed and she in turn directed her attention toward Inaho while gracefully dodging from the silver bullets shot toward her by the inexperienced human soldiers around her. Other vampires chased frightened human soldiers around, killing them like dogs killed rats or incapacitated them to be collected as cattle later.

The countess’s movements were horrifyingly perfect and quick – faster than a baron or knight – and Inaho would have to face her together with the inexperienced human soldiers.

‘ _Here she comes!_ ’

Inaho turned around to run to the forest area, moving toward the abandoned town. It was useless to run – Inaho knew that – but he hoped he would open up her back for his comrades by having her chase him and by that make her into an easier target.

The light and fast steps came closer to him, but he kept running without turning around. Guns were shot around him and bullets sung next to his ears as they missed their cursed target chasing the boy. Panic grew in him once more. Inaho was afraid of being bitten. He was afraid of losing control by having his mind numbed by the enemy’s intoxicating venom. He wanted to live despite his silent oath to sacrifice his life for those he loved and cared about.

‘ _I can’t die yet. I still have too much to protect!_ ’

“Young blood,” he heard the commanding female voice chuckle with amusement right behind him. Since she was an undead creature who needed no air in her lungs, her voice was perfectly smooth and unaffected by gasps for breath – unlike Inaho. The cursed countess was probably only two or three steps behind him. She must have been slowed down from dodging the bullets from the human soldiers. “I can smell the sweet young blood from you. Are you bleeding perhaps?”

Inaho wondered what she was talking about. Did she smell the puncture wounds on his neck from earlier that morning? Had she turned her attention to him simply because of that?

‘ _I can’t keep running…!_ ’ the boy thought and felt out of breath and exhausted already. Sweat was pearling down his torso, dampening the uniform. ‘ _Someone…!_ ’ he thought. ‘ _Help!_ ’

A loud tapping sound was heard from in front of him and the old asphalt exploded from something hitting it with great force, making dirt and dust fly up into the air and create a large dust cloud. The sound of a jet engine was suddenly heard – as if coming from nowhere – and the roar from a fast and aggressive Gatling gun polluted the air. The moment Inaho looked up toward the sky a low flying fighter jet emerged behind the dust cloud. It had the symbol of Vers on its hull and Inaho nearly paralyzed from shock as he understood the pilot was aiming at him and the countess. The aircraft halted the fire for a short moment to aim as it flew closer, and then the roar of the Gatling gun was heard once more.

The human boy threw himself onto the ground to protect him from the aircraft’s attack despite the enemy vampire chasing him. Inaho crawled up into fetal position on the ground with arms covering his head while the ground exploded around him, and then a loud scream was heard as the aircraft flew past them. Inaho looked up and saw the countess bleed from her chest. Blood poured out from a dusty hole that had been ripped open by a shot from the Gatling gun, and the cursed countess screamed from pain and anger. In the corner of his eye Inaho saw the aircraft make a graceful turn to fly toward them once more.

“ _Get out of the way, Orange!_ ” a stranger’s voice said in the earpiece in Inaho’s ear, calling him on the open radio channel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A question: Are the chapters a little too long? I noticed they are about 10 000 words long, which are really long and might be a little too much to read in one go. (This chapter is 18 pages on Word...) Do you want to keep them like this, or should I chop them up into shorter chapter parts and possibly update twice a week or so instead (like I did with the AFWE fanfic)?
> 
>  
> 
> Can't wait to update with the next chapter (which I finished today)! The important encounter is finally here, and gawd is it thrilling and fun (imo)! 8D


	11. The Boys of Humanity – The Two Meet Each Other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here it is... *breathes out nervously* I hope you enjoy!

Inaho watched the Versian aircraft come closer and quickly got up on his feet. What was going on? The pilot of the aircraft had been the one to contact him – calling him Orange – and it seemed as if the enemy pilot was an ally of some sort. With the cursed countess taking a staggering step toward Inaho, the brunet finally decided to trust whoever was piloting the enemy aircraft. Otherwise the cursed creature in front of him would bite him to heal her ghastly wounds.

The brown haired boy obeyed the voice from up high. He was surprised to have an ally on the enemy side assisting him so suddenly, and he ran into the forest to get out of the Versian aircraft’s target area. The ground began exploding from the Gatling gun’s hits a second time as the enemy aircraft was flying toward the cursed countess. Whoever the pilot was, he had come at the right time to save Inaho.

‘ _But why?_ ’

The impacts were sensed in the ground, reaching Inaho in the forest, and the air shook with the loud sound made by the jet engine. The boy’s chest vibrated unpleasantly from the trembling air as the aircraft flew by and disrupted the air with the jet blast violently that it made the trees and bushes sway violently, leaving a screaming vampire in its wake. The countess had been hit again – this time in the right leg, forcing her down on her knees – and was screaming from utter anger. Blood splattered onto the ground beneath her before she collapsed face down on the ground, and the flesh that was now exposed to the setting sun was slowly starting to sizzle.

“ _Inaho!?_ ” he heard his sister yell in the radio headset. “ _Where are you!? Two enemy aircrafts are on their way and one has already arrived. The captain has ordered us to leave port and head into a secret base located in the mountain!_ ”

“I will catch up with you,” the brunet said in the radio. “I think we have air support.”

“ _From whom!? There are no UN ships or aircrafts around_.”

“The one flying above us is probably an ally,” Inaho said calmly despite his heart beating away from shock in his chest. “The pilot saved me from the countess. He seems to have no ill intent for now, so use the support he assists us with and hurry to the secret base and do whatever we were ordered to do here. I’ll handle the countess.”

“ _But Nao!_ ”

“Just go. Don’t worry about me; I think I can trust the enemy aircraft for now,” the brunet stressed and checked the gun was fully loaded before he stepped out of the forest. “I will contact you once the situation is clear,” the boy continued determinedly. “If you have to leave without me, then do that.”

“ _Nao!_ ”

Inaho could hear the worry and distress in his sister’s voice, but he had to push forward. He hoped he would not be left behind on this island once the UN ship had done what it had been ordered to do. He took a deep breath the moment he contacted the pilot and told him to speak with him on another channel, to keep the conversation as private as possible.

“ _Don’t get too close to her!_ ” the ally pilot yelled in the radio with a commanding tone as Inaho was walking toward the cursed countess, who was bleeding and growling as her wounds slowly began to burn from the sun. “ _Run toward the town and hide; more cursed creatures are coming. If they find you, they’ll sacrifice you to the countess immediately._ ”

“Who are you?” Inaho wondered out loud and raised the gun to shoot the cursed creature from further away; he decided to trust whoever this pilot was and do what he said about running into town, but he would wipe away the main threat first.

The countess turned her head to look at him; the helmet scraped against the ground as Inaho took aim, when Inaho then heard:

“ _Just hide! They’re coming; I can’t protect you from all of them!_ ”

“Two Versian aircrafts are on their way,” Inaho continued instead. “Do you know anything about that?”

“ _Negative. I can barely see them on the radar, but I have nothing to do with them_ ,” the pilot answered with a stressed voice.

“Can you take them down?”

“ _Uncertain. I’m not carrying missiles and I only have about 180 rounds of ammunition left_.”

What a surprise. Why did the ally not carry missiles or bombs of any kind, and why was he so low on ammunition to use the aircraft’s onboard cannon? Was the aircraft not meant to be a fighter jet? Inaho was confused. Usually fighter jets carried around 400 to 500 rounds.

“It’s a pretty bad condition to have when engaging in war, is it not?” Inaho asked genuinely concerned, but heard a grumbling answer:

“ _Says the one running around with nothing but a gun among predators!_ ”

“Touché,” the brunet answered and aimed the gun at the countess’s helmet, and pulled the trigger immediately without hesitation.

He emptied the gun’s magazine into her skull and body, and watched her slither and thrash around from pain. Her scream was loud enough it echoed in the area as the silver was eating away at her, and Inaho then did as he had been told and hurried toward the abandoned town to hide from the enemy soldiers that were attracted to the countess by her scream.

†††

The orange clad boy… Slaine had finally found him. No one was to take the opportunity to speak to the boy away from him now; Slaine would make sure of that. He would guard the sky with everything he and the aircraft had, and he would take down whoever decided to come in his way, to save the cursed princess.

‘ _Orange is mine_ ,’ he thought as he made a horizontal turn to head toward the Versian helicopters dropping cursed soldiers onto the dock and ship. He aimed at the one closest to him and made sure it was secured in his sight before opening fire. Since the pilots of the helicopters seemed confused about the symbol of Vers Empire on Slaine’s aircraft, the rotorcrafts were like sitting ducks for the boy, believing he was there to support them.

‘ _I won’t let you get in my way!_ ’

The moment Slaine pushed down the trigger to the Gatling gun, a thrilling satisfaction coursed through him. Within the blink of an eye, the first hit enemy helicopter lost the back rotor with two of the four blades blown off, leading to the rotorcraft losing control by rotating violently and slowly descending toward the sea, only to crash and turn into a ball of smoke.

Slaine made a loop again the moment he flew past the four remaining helicopters, and he quickly made sure to check how close the approaching enemy aircrafts were by looking at the radar. The two enemy fighter jets were on their way – quickly. Slaine was instantly reminded about having two aircrafts he had to take out after the helicopters, not having enough ammunition to meet them head on in an equal fight. They carried missiles and plenty more rounds than Slaine, while Slaine had no missiles and only 168 rounds left.

Slaine had to wipe out the helicopters as quickly as possible in order to give the human soldiers the chance to man the machine guns on board their ship, and then hurry toward the open sea to engage in a dogfight with the two enemy fighters before they got too close to the island. If he was too slow to wipe the enemy out of his way, the orange clad boy would most probably get away and disappear or be caught by the enemy and possibly killed. Slaine had no time for chasing the boy – especially now that he had the boy in his sight. He steered the aircraft toward the helicopters again and pulled the trigger, hitting two of the enemy rotorcrafts.

A third time, he made a turn and skillfully evaded the enemy machine guns aiming at him by ascending steeply, rotating the aircraft upside-down and flying past the Versian helicopters beneath him. Then he descended with a perfectly made reverse Immelmann turn onto their altitude, only to open fire at them. The fourth helicopter was hit in its rotor and went down right before Slaine flew past the last remaining one still shooting at him, and was about to face it as well when its back rotor suddenly exploded. Slaine looked down and saw a UN soldier behind the machine gun on deck on the UN ship.

‘ _Finally_ ,’ the blond boy sighed as the last rotorcraft went down, and then headed toward the open sea to greet the enemy aircrafts that were on their way. ‘ _Only about 120 rounds left…_ ’ It meant he only had a full burst attack of 2,5 seconds before he was completely out of ammunition, which meant he had to be careful with how to use them. Luckily, a well aimed hit was all it took to take a fighter aircraft down, and the one shooting first was a victor, nine times out of ten.

What made Slaine’s situation difficult in a dogfight was that the F-35B aircraft he flew was not mainly designed for dogfights; it was designed for stealth and vertical landings, as well as long distance attacks. However, it was still an infant compared to the more established and stable aircrafts that were much more commonly used by both human and cursed military. The F-35B was a failure and a sinking ship since it was bad at air-to-air duels and bad at the long distance attacks as well, Slaine thought. Furthermore, Slaine’s piloting skills were nothing compared to the experienced pilots of Vers Empire’s navy. The boy would have preferred an earlier generation fighter, like the F/A-18 Hornet or an F-22 Raptor, since they were faster and more maneuverable as well as carried plenty of rounds for their guns. Regrettably he had been forced to hijack the F-35B because a desperate man was not allowed to choose, and it had been the only aircraft Slaine could lift with without aid from the deck crew and catapult.

‘ _Are the enemy aircrafts F-16’s, F/A-18’s or F-22’s?_ ’ the boy thought nervously. The enemy had most likely one of the older types since they were some of the usual models of fighters out there due to their multirole functions and maneuverability. ‘ _The stealth won’t do me any good the moment they see me_ ,’ he thought and took a deep breath. Then he suddenly blinked as his mind spun for a short moment with a significant thought. ‘ _Unless…_ ’

The F-35B had one small detail that raised Slaine’s chances to avoid being seen, which was stealth. It had been specifically made to absorb and misdirect radar signals, which made his reading small on the enemy’s radar.

Slaine pulled the control stick toward him to get to higher altitude – so high he would have a chance to avoid being seen with the naked eye. He flew high enough to stay right beneath the clouds. The top of the canopy nearly touched the belly of the fluffy billows that had been left drifting after the storm, and the boy used them as camouflage and hoped the enemy radars would not spot him. This way he could keep an eye on the enemy aircrafts flying on lower altitude with the sensors underneath the aircraft. The enemy would not fly above the clouds since that would give them no visual over the human ship and the island, which made the human boy safer on higher altitude.

The moment the two enemy aircrafts came into view on the screen in front of him, Slaine took a deep breath. The enemy pilots had F-22 Raptors; somewhat equal to Slaine’s aircraft in a dogfight, but still better. The boy was not to hesitate; he had to do what he could and protect the orange clad boy carrying valuable information, and he had to assist the human ship in case his secretly beloved Asseylum was on board it; he had to perform a surprise attack, and he had to succeed.

Quickly he descended behind the enemy aircrafts and increased his speed. The moment he came close enough the enemy pilots would notice him if they cared to look behind them, Slaine aimed at the one to his left and pushed the trigger to the Gatling gun, releasing just a couple of the frangible armor piercing rounds he carried. Something was hit as a cloud of smoke erupted from somewhere on the enemy aircraft, and they broke their formation by separating to avoid Slaine’s attacks from behind. The one leaving a heavy smoke trail behind it luckily retreated while the other one made a horizontal loop to get behind Slaine.

‘ _Damn it!_ ’

Slaine pulled the aircraft up to make a diagonal loop and felt the aircraft instantly answer to his command. What gave the F-35B proper credit was its highly accurate steering; it was sensitive enough the aircraft answered perfectly to whatever move Slaine wanted to make. With that, the boy ascended to the top of the loop and tried to descend behind the remaining enemy aircraft again.

‘ _I’m too slow!_ ’ he thought with gritted teeth as he noticed the enemy managed to stay behind him, following him with ease; their turn radius was tighter than Slaine’s. The boy took a deep breath from nervousness. The enemy was quickly at his tail and a missile lock-on signal began beeping in the speakers in the helmet; the enemy had locked a radar guided missile onto the aft of Slaine’s aircraft.

Slaine activated the powerful radar jammers his aircraft was equipped with – unsure of it they would actually help in a situation like this – and prepared for the enemy’s missile to launch toward him. He could do nothing but hope the jammers were sufficient, but in case he was still being tracked he prepared himself to avoid the missile with a basic maneuver. Now, he simply waited.

“Come on…!” he said with a hiss and looked behind him to keep an eye on the enemy aircraft. It was patiently tailing him, slowly flying closer as if the pilot was taunting the boy. “Release your hound already!”

The wait was excruciating. It picked and scratched at his nerves – made his body shake with a bizarre kind of anticipation. He had difficulties of defining it since this emotion was completely new to his new self. It resembled the feeling of fearlessness despite the word to describe it was not entirely accurate either. Whatever had burst in his mind the moment Trillram had revealed his unforgivable mission in Shinawara, Slaine was sure it had taken some of his self-preservation with it. Death was still something he greatly feared, but somehow he felt invincible – even in a moment like this with an enemy aircraft threatening him with a missile. The hate was pushing him – coaxing him – seducing him even, to become more deluded about life. It basically told him he was invincible; a ruler of all of his mastered domains; he would not lose.

Then finally, something dropped from the enemy aircraft. A small puff of white smoke exploded behind the small object that sent it in Slaine’s direction with great speed. Slaine quickly rolled with the airplane, cut off the throttle, forced exaggerated pressure on the elevators, and put hard input on the rudder to force the aircraft into a steep fall. This way – with a high g barrel roll with a nose-low maneuver – he shook the missile off his tail and used the gravity to preserve speed; a steep climb would have robbed him of speed due to the jet engine having to fight against gravity instead of working with it.

His heart was beating wildly as he saw the sea rush up toward him while the warning signal of low altitude was beeping in the cockpit. He had not thought about the height where he had performed the maneuver due to stress. It was a mistake that could end up being fatal, with him crashing into the sea. A high g barrel roll with a nose-low maneuver was only meant to be made on high altitudes but, during the ongoing dogfight, both Slaine and the enemy had been flying low.

With a breath caught in his throat, Slaine forced the aircraft up, pushing it so hard it felt as if the hull of the aircraft protested against the g-force applied to it during the maneuver. Clouds covered the wings on either side of him as low pressure formed on the top of the wings due to the sudden increase of lift. His hands were soaked with cold sweat and his teeth grinded against each other so hard it would have not surprised Slaine if his teeth shattered. As the aircraft worked hard to abide to Slaine’s command, the boy finally yelled with frustration and fright as everything became heavy from the g-force. He was pushed down into his seat by the force and he had to fight it with all his might; his body felt as if it consisted of lead rather than flesh and bones. The sudden unpleasant surprise forced its way out of him through his lungs and vocal cords, and made him scream so loud it tore at his throat.

“GET … UP!”

Moments before the aircraft would have hit the surface of the sea, it finally answered properly and pulled up – leaving a wall of water spraying behind it as the surface was assaulted by the jet blast. Slaine’s breath shook and so did his body. He was shaken by the mistake of not paying attention to the height he did the maneuver – but now that he looked up to see the enemy aircraft, he took a deep breath and gathered his momentarily shattered determination and focus:

‘ _Now I got you_ ,’ he thought as he saw the belly of the enemy aircraft flying above him.

With no time to think through the situation, Slaine had ended up beneath the enemy aircraft and was now ascending toward it. He had the enemy perfectly in his sight, and Slaine had a difficulty believing the blessing in disguise. It was a welcomed surprise after his panicked attempt to correct his maneuver error, and he immediately steadied his aircraft to aim at the enemy aircraft’s defenseless underside, and pushed the trigger button to shoot it down.

The ammunition count went down for each brief moment he pushed the trigger, and would soon hit zero. This time Slaine had to take a chance and go into a full assault – and right when he got the enemy perfectly in his sight he held down the trigger. It emptied every round the aircraft still carried into the enemy’s belly, and an explosion from the underside of the enemy’s aircraft followed. Pieces broke off the F-22 Raptor, sending it into a merciless spin as it lost altitude and begun the fall toward the sea. Slaine quickly maneuvered away from the pieces that had been blown off and, once the aircraft was stable again, he looked for the seat being ejected. There was nothing; the pilot went down with the aircraft, which crashed into the sea.

Slaine steered the aircraft back toward the island and took a deep breath. His body slumped from exhaustion now that the dangers were momentarily out of his way. One of the enemy aircrafts had retreated due to the damage Slaine had managed to inflict on it, while the other had gone down and crashed. Nausea welled up in his throat again and he held the mask covering his face in case he had to remove it to vomit.

‘ _What happened just now?_ ’ he thought confused. How had a human boy – who barely had proper flight experience – defeated two Versian military pilots? The way of a dogfight was always a gamble; rarely did both sides manage to win. Dogfights were quick and – for one of the parties – deadly. It was rare for both to survive and it had always to do with who was the quickest to attack with smart tactics.

‘ _Whatever… I’m so tired_ ,’ Slaine thought and leaned back against the backrest of the seat while he leisurely held the steering and flew back toward the island. He took a couple of breaths to calm down while checking the fuel tanks – which were nearly empty – and then finished with a long exhalation before he looked up and saw the island closing in. Fire awoke in his heart once more. ‘ _I’m coming for you now, Orange_.’

†††

Inaho watched a cursed soldier walk down the road and stopped a couple of meters away from the human boy, who was hiding in a bush close to the abandoned town. Inaho had just managed to change the magazine in his gun before a cursed creature had shown up and cut the boy off from his route. Instead of attacking him, Inaho had decided to hold his breath and hope the cursed soldier left without noticing him. The large tropical leaves of the bush kept him well hidden, but he was sure the perfect sight of the cursed creature would spot him if the soldier just turned around to look at the bush; Inaho’s orange overalls was so bright he would most likely be seen no matter where he decided to hide in the surrounding vegetation.

The enemy soldier looked around the proximity and then threw a look over his shoulder. That was when Inaho understood the cursed soldier had seen him without realizing it immediately and, when the cursed soldier turned around to look at the bush once more, Inaho dashed out from his hiding place and tackled the surprised vampire to the ground by crashing into him. A stern hand gripped Inaho’s throat the moment the brunet pushed himself up from on top of the creature, but he did not hesitate: He pulled the visor of the helmet up and revealed shocked green eyes beneath it, and then pushed the gun against the vampire’s face and pulled the trigger. Inaho emptied the entire magazine into to the cursed creature’s head, and it seemed to be enough to incapacitate the enemy soldier by paralyzing him with pain while his screams slowly died out.

A loud cry of a jet engine appeared the moment Inaho was to change the magazine in his gun once more. It was followed by a strong and hot downward wind that began pulling at Inaho’s hair and clothes. Shock and confusion coursed instantly through the boy as the sudden wind was so strong and hot it felt as if it tried to slowly burn him. The brunet staggered away from the worst heat as the wind nearly forced him down onto his knees, and he peeked up only to recognize the aircraft that hovered high above him and the paralyzed vampire.

“ _Move or you’ll burn_ ,” he heard the ally pilot say in Inaho’s headset.

Inaho covered his head with his arms and hurried out of the way to crouch down behind a tree as the aircraft began descending. Dust, dry leaves and branches flew around him similar to during a hurricane, hitting the brunet like whips, and he coughed as the dust got into his airways. A loud scream was heard behind him, and when Inaho peeked out from between his arms to look at the screaming soldier he watched the vampire’s clothes burn as the aircraft was lowering toward the ground.

‘ _That’s not a Harrier_ ,’ Inaho thought as he got a closer look of the aircraft. He had not heard of another aircraft that could hover still in one place like the one did now except the Harrier Jump Jet, and this was not a Harrier. It was something else and seemed much more graceful during its landing. It said STOVL on the side of its rudders – which seemed to be another hovering system than the Harrier’s V/STOL – and was decorated with the flag of the Vers Empire. ‘ _A prototype developed by Vers?_ ’ the boy thought surprised. Never would an aircraft wear marketing decals if they were fully operational military aircrafts.

The ground began to melt beneath the aircraft; the old and cracked asphalt was sweating violently and had turned completely black. The cursed soldier screaming from pain went silent as he was scorched from the intense heat, and the aircraft finally landed with a gentle thud on top of him with the ash of the body dispersing in the violent thrust of the jet. The brunet did not know what to think of the sight. It was cruel and sad due to how little the enemy soldier’s death was worth, yet it was helpful to have another enemy wiped out of Inaho’s way.

As the brown haired boy got up and looked at the aircraft that went silent, he saw the canopy open. It was a Versian soldier piloting the aircraft, hiding beneath a helmet covering the soldier’s head. The brunet watched him exit the cockpit and stand on the wing while looking around the proximity, until he fixed his eyes on Inaho. They silently inspected each other for a while as if time and space had gone missing. A foreboding tension came over the brunet when they studied each other. It was not sinister, however; it was strangely thrilling. Inaho had never gotten to meet an enemy ally like this before.

The moment Inaho decided to step out of his hiding place behind the tropical tree the enemy pilot pulled a gun toward him, yelling to him with a commanding tone to stand still.

“Are we not allies?” Inaho asked after he stopped and looked at the other dressed in the navy blue uniform of a Versian soldier.

“Drop your gun,” the voice said commandingly, and a thought of imprisonment followed in Inaho’s mind. Would the Versian soldier – who had saved the brunet and even killed one of his own – take the human boy as a prisoner of war? The tension Inaho had foreseen a couple of heartbeats earlier showed itself; the air became electrifying.

“It’s not loaded; my magazine went empt-“ the orange clad boy began, but was not allowed to finish speaking:

“Drop your gun, Orange!” the other yelled – even more commandingly than before, and Inaho raised his hands into the air and dropped the gun he was holding. He kept staring at the boy with the electrifying thrill growing ever so slowly, and he wondered when sparks would begin to fly between them. “Are you carrying any other weapons?”

“A field knife,” the brunet answered honestly; he decided it would be too dangerous to lie in case the other would later find the knife.

“Discard it as well,” he was ordered, and Inaho did as he was told to. “Now, step closer.”

As Inaho walked up to the aircraft, nearly standing right in front of the wing of the aircraft his possible ally stood on, he was ordered to stop.

“I assume you succeeded in incapacitating the enemy fighters, since you have returned?” the brunet asked and kept staring at the enemy hiding behind the visor of the pilot helmet.

To his surprise the enemy lowered the gun, put it back in its holster, and then continued with opening the buckle of the helmet beneath his chin. Was the enemy going to remove the helmet and be burned by the sun? Why? Despite his confusion, the ever growing thrill ran through the brunet to finally see this unknown person who had saved him and possibly taken him as a prisoner.

He watched as silky blonde hair was revealed the moment the helmet was removed. The pale gilded strands gleamed in the remaining light from the setting sun like a crown made of pale gold. Soft skin that had not seen the sun for many years covered the flesh, but it had no sickly translucent look to it like that of a vampire’s. It was quite the opposite; the skin looked like soft ivory velvet that gossiped about a healthy way of life.

The boy standing on the wing of his dreadful aircraft was not affected by the sun, which told Inaho the boy was as human as he was. With the now familiar thrill making his heart flutter violently from anticipation, Inaho watched the boy open his eyes – the eyes Inaho recognized immediately the moment the icy blue irises stared back at him.

“You…” the brunet whispered as he recognized the boy as the blood sacrifice he had seen in the truck back in the tunnel in Shinawara.

Something had changed within the boy, though, which made Inaho hesitate if he was glad to see the boy or not. The gentle eyes Inaho had seen in Shinawara were not present. They had been replaced with a piercing gaze that cut into the brunet’s mind, assaulting him with hatred that had been born from compelling desperation. The thrill grew again and the air became heavy with electricity; Inaho’s hairs stood on end.

This time the boy was not timid and helpless; this time he was unpredictable; deadly and capable. It filled the air around him, showed in his posture when he stood tall with weight in his feet, and it burned in the beautiful blue eyes. Inaho felt as if he stood before a majesty who had boldly ventured onto enemy territory with a heavy quest on his shoulders, with no expectations to greet another morning. Desperation had pulled the boy with the pale gilded crown to the island, and that desperation had led him to Inaho.

‘ _What about the hate? Will he direct it at me?_ ’ the brunet thought wondering.

“We meet again,” the blond boy said with a chilly tone to his soft voice. “Before I can state my business, we have to get somewhere safe. This is not a place where we can voice sensitive matters and we will have a hard time to survive the night now that the sun has nearly set.”

“Sensitive matters?” the brunet asked monotonously, wondering if he was actually taken prisoner or not. Why on earth was the boy interested in speaking about sensitive topics with him? What kind of topics were they? Inaho had no authority. He was nothing but a child enrolled into the military as deck crew, who had little to no information about anything of interest.

‘ _Unless he’s after the princess…_ ’ the brunet thought and felt his heart skip a beat. ‘ _Does he know about her still being alive?_ ’

Worry washed over him. If it was true the boy knew the cursed princess was alive, it could only mean trouble. This boy was something else than Inaho had seen the first time their paths had crossed in Shinawara: Just a couple of days ago Inaho had seen the boy trying to run away from a cursed baron, and later seen him humiliated by being forced to keep the same baron warm throughout the night. Now, the boy standing before him on the wing of a deadly fighter was the opposite of that lonely and helpless boy he had been in the evacuation truck. He was strong, probably in body and spirit.

‘ _I don’t think I can fight him…_ ’

For the first time in a long time Inaho felt excited despite his worry about the boy being after the cursed princess. Something told the brunet this boy was something more than just a possible enemy. What the boy could be, he did not know. The hunch was too vague right now, and the mere thought of interacting with him sparked the sense of thrill to increase once more. It felt dangerous, but in a curious and satisfying way.

“As I said,” the blond boy said and crouched on the wing to get down from it. “We have to find a safe shelter before we speak about things. Night is falling and there’s still cursed soldiers running around the place, right?” the boy asked, and Inaho nodded obediently.

The blond boy jumped down from the wing and landed on strong legs, which surprised the brunet since the boy had been so pale and broken back in the truck. There was something eerie with the boy’s movements as he raised himself to stand tall, as if he had a strong and powerful body, like a vampire; he looked weightless, and only incredibly strong people could make their movements look weightless like that. The boy was not stiff from nervousness either; he was relaxed due to a powerful sense of purpose despite his well-practiced formal posture. Inaho figured a strong spirit was a must to have to be able to survive as a human in the world of cursed nights, and in a sense the brunet admired him for it. Inaho could not understand how the boy had been able to survive as a blood sacrifice in the cursed society, and he wondered for how long he had lived there. Questions began to flood his mind; he was incredibly curious about this blood sacrifice.

“We should head for the town before cursed creatures arrive to explore what just landed here,” the blond said and went to pick up Inaho’s knife and gun. The setting sun was gleaming in his eyes like shards of crystal when he walked past the brunet, and the electricity between them made Inaho’s skin crawl with pleasant shivers when the boy’s arm nearly brushed his.

“What about the aircraft?” Inaho wondered and lowered his raised hands to follow the boy, who began walking toward the abandoned town – armed with the brunet’s gun and knife as well as his own gun securely strapped in its holster.

‘ _Why did he put the gun away?_ ’ Inaho wondered as he followed the other. ‘ _Am I not a prisoner?_ ’

“Common soldiers cannot fly a jet. It can be left here,” answered the other boy as he pushed a branch out of his way when walking down the small road leading to the town.

“It’s a prototype, isn’t it?” Inaho asked to keep the conversation going while following the blond. “Your entrance was impressive.”

The electrifying air between them made the brunet want to keep speaking to him; he wanted to listen to the unnamed boy’s soft but commanding voice. It was pleasant in a way since it melted so easily in Inaho’s ears, and he wanted to amplify the electrifying air to coax a spark from the boy.

Inaho had never been this curious about a stranger before.

“You can tell?” the other asked and stepped over a fallen tree trunk. “It’s a Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II, and pretty useless still.”

“But you’re using it?” the brunet asked and stepped over the same fallen trunk and hurried up to the boy.

“Sometimes a pilot doesn’t get to choose,” was the blunt answer he got.

As Inaho kept his eyes on the boy, he noticed the boy was very aware of his surroundings as if he heard and saw everything around him. It was similar to that of a cursed creature, and Inaho wondered if the boy had adopted the behavior or been forced to develop it to protect himself from hunters. The boy’s vigilant behavior was still different to the cursed creatures’; the boy was human and had to deliberately sharpen his senses to keep track of what happened around him. The boy was nervous, but he had not reacted to the brunet hurrying after him. If he had been a normal person in this tense situation he would have been jumpy about someone unknown following so closely behind him. The boy was perfectly calm with Inaho’s presence, however. The boy was not guarded, which made Inaho believe the boy was more an ally than an enemy – at least for now.

They wandered for a while in silence. Inaho had never been the talkative type, and now that he wanted to keep communicating with the boy he found no words to say. He ransacked his brain to find something he could say to the boy to make him use that pleasant voice of his, but nothing came to his flooded mind; he had too many questions to know where to begin; it overwhelmed him.

The boy stopped on the middle of the road and looked to their left. He held out a hand to stop Inaho from walking any further and stared into the thick forest of tall trees and bushes.

“What are yo-?” Inaho began to ask, but the blond boy raised a hand that signed to Inaho he had to stay quiet.

Silent steps were heard from the dark forest and Inaho’s blood went cold. A cursed creature was walking somewhere in the darkness. The boy had heard the vampire before Inaho had even gotten a hunch of someone being somewhere close by.

Without a warning the blond boy grabbed the brunet and pulled him into a bush with large tropical leaves, and forced him down onto the ground.

“Stay low,” the boy whispered into Inaho’s ear when he placed himself next to him. A pleasant shiver ran down the brunet’s spine from the sensation of the blond boy’s breath against his ear. “Open up your airways as much as you can to breathe quietly.”

When Inaho did as he was told he noticed his breaths became quieter when breathing with his mouth slightly open, and he took shorter breaths. Was this a trick the boy had learned as well, to be able to hide from a hunter with a razor-sharp hearing?

A cursed soldier emerged from the vegetation on the other side of the road and looked around for a while; he had heard the boy’s moving and peered into the darkness, scanning the area. The blond boy pushed Inaho’s head down to hide their faces and Inaho obeyed. The musky smell of dirt seeped into his nose. The gentle wind from the sea seemed to distract the cursed creature’s sense of smell when it sniffed the air, and luckily it could not find the boys’ trail of scent and decided to move on. The boys lay on the dirty ground for a short while to ensure the cursed soldier had disappeared, before they dared to venture onto the road again.

They followed the overgrown road with quiet steps and ended up in the abandoned town. The blond boy chose a rundown house that stood all the way to the East and tried to open the front door. It swung open as if the previous owners had simply left it unlocked, knowing they would never return to the house. Together, the boys went inside and locked the door behind them, and they found a safe shelter all the way up in the warm attic. It had stayed surprisingly clean throughout its years of standing abandoned; the floor in the attic was covered with a thin layer of dust, and a couple of spider webs hung here and there.

“The sun rises in the East and the cursed creatures will hide in the basement of houses in the West. This house is the safest,” the blond boy explained quietly as he sat down on the floor and leaned his back against the wall beneath a small window.

The moon had begun to peek out through the slowly dispersing clouds, spreading its silver rays across the island.

Inaho followed the blond boy’s example and sat down next to a wooden pole supporting the ceiling, and leaned his exhausted body against it and took a deep breath. He was so tired he would have fallen asleep had he trusted the other boy entirely.

“What’s your name?” the boy asked and stared at Inaho with the piercing glare. The boy sat relaxed, leaning against the wall with the right arm resting on a bent knee.

“Inaho,” the brunet answered. “Kaizuka Inaho. What’s yours?”

“Do not mind that,” the boy answered quietly with a tone trying to dominate Inaho. It was dangerous, which made Inaho’s entire being shiver with the familiar and pleasant thrill from before. “What is your-?”

“Have you taken me as a prisoner?” Inaho interrupted him. The blond boy got a surprised look to his eyes and he was obviously thrown off his trail of thought; he had not expected Inaho to make an initiative to start any kind of conversation. “I’m trying to figure out if you’re an enemy or not,” the brunet continued and intently watched the boy.

To Inaho’s relief, the other’s expression turned instantly from calm and dangerous to that of a normal teenage boy with a short temper. He scowled at Inaho, letting the brunet know he was still a child deep down beneath the layers of a soldier.

“Wasn’t the gun pointed at you making your situation clear enough?” the boy asked abruptly.

“Yes, but then you lowered it,” Inaho answered and blinked as he watched the other with curiosity playing in his mind, urging him to continue speaking to the stranger who, surprisingly, did not feel like a complete stranger. “And you have sacrificed yourself for me once, and saved me from a cursed countess. It makes me wonder what you are to me.”

The darkness made it impossible to tell for sure, but Inaho thought he saw embarrassment play in the blond boy’s expression. The other boy stared at Inaho with bafflement before turning his eyes away, probably realizing he had behaved naively by putting the gun away back at the aircraft.

Inaho began to realize this blood sacrifice was not a soldier at all; he seemed not to have gone through a proper training. Inaho had been taught by the instructors at school – Marito and his sister Yuki – that whenever there was an encounter with an unknown soldier they were always to be treated as an enemy until proven otherwise, even if they wore the same uniform as Inaho. This blond boy, who was dressed in the enemy uniform, seemed to not know this important and crucial rule of a soldier; he had taken a lethal risk when unarming himself in Inaho’s presence; the brunet could have attacked him.

An awaited spark flew in the electrifying air:

“I can point a gun at you if you want a reminder of your situation,” the boy hissed and turned his needle-sharp gaze back to the brunet.

“Do you want to?” Inaho asked and felt amused; this boy was completely a rookie. Curiosity mixed with the thrill. Inaho could not help but to wish for more information about who and what this boy was now and had been in the past.

“Is it necessary?” the boy countered.

“No.”

“…”

The room went silent. It was a silence Inaho thought his friends would call awkward, but for Inaho it was pleasant and exciting. This confused and naïve blond boy was clearly lost and alone; just like Inaho had thought back in Shinawara. The boy was a victim and not an enemy. He was not a friend and perhaps not an ally either, but Inaho wanted to save him nevertheless. What made him hesitate was the harsh glare the boy gave him; the soft eyes from a couple of days ago were gone and made Inaho hesitate greatly about what to do with him.

“What has happened since Shinawara?” Inaho asked and studied the boy, who threw a glance at Inaho before looking away with a heavy frown creating creases around his eyes. A sigh escaped his lips.

“I will ask the questions,” the boy said tiredly. “You answer, Orange.”

‘ _Then I’ll throw you off your trail of thought again_ ,’ Inaho selfishly thought; he wanted to converse with the boy who seemed too much of a rookie to know when he was being manipulated.

“I told you my name is-“ Inaho began as his first attempt to confuse the boy to reveal more about himself, but was briskly interrupted:

“I heard what you told me!” the boy spat, suddenly energized and behaving much like the short-tempered teenager he actually was. “I will call you Orange. Deal with it!”

“Then – since I don’t know your name – I’ll call you Bat, because you flew here in the setting sun,” Inaho answered and amusedly watched as embarrassment washed over the boy’s face again.

“Whatever…” the boy grumbled and sighed with frustration. “What is your objective in this war? I saw you wear a school uniform back in Shinawara, but you seem to be pretty comfortable with a gun in your hand for being a normal high school student.”

“That’s pretty observant of you,” Inaho said. “All high school students get basic military training. I guess my objective is the same as everyone else’s; to protect those I care about.”

“And you will do everything you can to protect them?” Bat wondered, and Inaho nodded. “Even sacrifice your life?”

“Wouldn’t you?” Inaho asked. A second spark flew in the electrifying air; Inaho got a poisonous glare back from the boy from hitting a sensitive nerve with his honest question. “It seems you have a very important mission going on yourself. You even killed a cursed countess.”

The attic went quiet for a while again. To be someone who was on an important mission, the boy surely seemed to be completely unprepared for it. This awkward interrogation was perhaps not an interrogation at all, and Inaho was probably not a prisoner. The other boy was simply wary of him – that was all to his dominating behavior.

“Can I ask some questions?” the brunet asked and looked at Bat, who turned his eye to look at him. “Since you’re pretty quiet and thinking about what to do, I would like to ask some questions myself.”

The other boy contemplated for a while if Inaho would be allowed to speak or not. Shortly after, he finally nodded and Inaho felt thrilled again.

“Are you on the run from Vers?” the brunet asked.

A lonely look in Bat’s eyes followed his question, and the blond boy lowered his head slightly.

“I cannot return to that place…”

‘ _In other words, you’re on the run_ ,’ Inaho thought.

“Why did you run away?”

Bat hesitated to answer. It was as if the words themselves would scorch him if he uttered them. Something really bad must have happened to chase the blood sacrifice away like that.

“A human has no value in Vers,” the boy said quietly. “They are just blood sacrifices. You saw that back in Shinawara, didn’t you; when Trillram used me like a tool?”

The brunet nodded as he remembered the cruel scenes all too well.

“But do the blood sacrifices have no rights? I believe the emperor-“ Inaho began but was interrupted:

“It’s all noble and such, but … the emperor cannot see behind closed doors, and the common vampire doesn’t see humans as equals behind closed doors. We are stripped of our rights and treated like cattle, since that’s what we basically are for them,” Bat explained with a heavy frown on his beautifully sculpted face.

Suddenly the boy pulled his knees up to his chest and squeezed them gently with arms wrapped around them. It was something Inaho would have done back in the orphanage after being bullied by his peers, and strangely it hurt to see the same kind of behavior was now shown in Bat as well.

“Is that the reason to why you ran away?” Inaho wondered. “Because you are ill-treated?”

“They would have killed me had I stayed. My master is a monster,” the boy whispered.

Inaho decided to be bold and ask a question that would surely make a spark fly between them a third time:

“But you didn’t seem to come here to save yourself,” he said and, as he predicted, the other boy looked instantly at him again with a piercing gaze.

The room went silent once more as they stared at each other. Inaho was so curious about what the boy was doing and why that he could not help himself to recklessly coax sparks from the other. Bat was not simply on the run from his master; if he were he would not pull a gun toward a possible savior like Inaho. The boy was after something, and his piercing eyes gave it away each time a spark flew between them. The boy had a mission – be it an ordered one or a self-claimed one – and Inaho could not come up with any other reason to go on a mission but to find the princess.

‘ _Why do you want to find her?_ ’ the brunet thought. There could be many reasons to why Bat was hindered to return to Vers. It could be because his master was responsible for the assassination, and had sent out Slaine to finish the deed due to somehow learning about the princess still being alive. ‘ _Didn’t I kill the baron?_ ’ Inaho thought. The baron had seen her alive and Inaho could not come up with anyone else who could have seen her back in Shinawara. Another reason could be that Bat’s master – who possibly was the culprit – had been caught by Seylum’s supporters, and the boy was now on the run because he was a culprit as well. ‘ _Or he is on the run because he has his own objectives_ …’

“Take me with you,” Inaho heard the boy suddenly say. The brunet turned his burgundy eyes toward the boy, who stared back at him with determination.

‘ _You won’t take no for an answer_ ,’ Inaho thought, and answered:

“No.”

Inaho had to admit the boy’s dangerous behavior would jeopardize the life of many on board Wadatsumi, and he had to admit he was afraid the boy would be a direct danger to the cursed princess as well. Too much stood at stake right now to risk bringing an unstable person on board the ship; Bat could end up being a murderer.

Bat scowled and stood up from where he was sitting. Fire burned in his eyes, which confirmed Inaho’s fears of him being too dangerous to reason with.

“Take me with you!” he said – almost like an order.

Inaho stood up as well.

“No,” he answered once more.

A lightning struck as the electrical charge in the room became so tense a discharge had to clear the air: Bat stomped up to Inaho with fast steps and took a hold of the orange uniform, pulling Inaho’s face close to his.

“Take me with you, Orange!” the boy growled.

“I won’t, Bat,” Inaho answered and stared emotionlessly at the boy. “I can’t trust you.”

“Why!?”

“Because you have changed so much since I saw you last time. Back then, you were harmless,” Inaho said and kept staring at the boy. “Now, you behave suspiciously.”

“Suspiciously!?” Bat spat out and shoved Inaho away to instantly aim a right hook against the brunet.

Inaho had no time to dodge due to the boy being too fast, and he was hit by a precise blow to his left cheek. He stumbled immediately back and fell to the floor, facing the dust covered wooden boards. The blow had been surprisingly strong and Inaho gasped from the aching pain. Bat was strong, Inaho concluded.

‘ _Really strong…_ ’ he thought.

“You have no military training,” Inaho sighed and began to push his tired body up from the attic floor. “But you are really strong. Is it because of the blood maintenance?”

He was forcefully turned around and pushed back against the floor by strong hands, and when he opened his eyes he saw Bat lower himself on top of him, straddling his hips and pinning the brunet entirely against the floor.

“I have to come with you,” the blond hissed threateningly, and the previously commanding look had been replaced by a wild flicker in his eyes. “I won’t take no for an answer, Orange.”

‘ _His dangerous behavior is increasing_ ,’ the brunet thought worriedly.

“What will you do if I keep refusing?” Inaho wondered and stared at the boy while his cheek ached, causing a slight headache. “You can’t force me.”

“I will torture you,” Bat threatened quietly. “I’ve been with the cursed creatures long enough to have seen what horrible things one can do with humans.”

“Then do it,” Inaho prompted and saw confusion in the other boy’s eyes. “I have dealt with plenty of bad people in my life. Another one won’t make a difference.”

Bat had not expected him to answer without fear, and he stared at Inaho for a long while. Now that they lay there on the floor, Bat straddling Inaho while pinning the brunet down, the silvery moonlight found its way in through the window. Without the manmade lights dimming it out, the moon shone brightly enough to illuminate the blue eyes of this strange boy wearing the enemy uniform. The moon’s rays served the blond more justice than the setting sun; this time he wore a silver crown instead as his soft hair bathed in the pale light. A silver crown suited the boy the best, Inaho thought. Cool colors were accentuating his attractive features of a Westerner, and after admiring the boy’s pale colors Inaho wondered if he was from a northern country. He looked as if he had been born in a snow covered nation.

The longer they looked at each other the more Bat’s anger subsided. His iron grip around Inaho’s shoulders loosened slowly and the tense shoulders began to slump. The boy had no idea what to do to such a willing victim like Inaho. Despair slowly crept over his face and he finally sighed.

“Take me with you…” he mumbled and lowered his eyes from Inaho’s face to the brunet’s chest in a begging manner.

Commanding, dangerous and wild, and now pitiful. Those were the moods the boy had shown Inaho within thirty minutes; he fluctuated violently, which told Inaho his mind was in chaos. Bat was all but stable as a living creature and as a person.

“Why do you want to come with me so badly?” Inaho wondered and stared at the boy’s gentle countenance. “What is there on board the ship I’m deployed on that you so much seek, that you hijacked an aircraft, saved me from a cursed countess, and then attacked me?”

As the boy silently slumped further something hinted behind the high collar of his uniform. Dark spots. Inaho – spurred by curiosity and without thinking – reached up a hand toward the boy’s collar, and instantly Bat took a hold of his wrist with a strong hand and stared at him dangerously again.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked threateningly.

“Let me see your neck,” Inaho said quietly.

“Why?”

“Because I want to see it.”

Bat stared at him with perplexity playing in his eyes. The boy thought for a couple of seconds as he tried to figure out what to do, before he sighed and leaned closer and released Inaho’s hand. Gently, the brunet raised his hand once again to pull down the left side of Bat’s collar, and when he rested his eyes on the skin bathing in the weak light from the moon, he saw bite marks. Several of them. There was a large bruise covering his neck, but Inaho could not determine how old it was due to the light being too weak. He saw old scars and new that had formed on the skin, which had been punctured many times for many years. Some were still healing and a fresh bite mark was among them. A trail of blood had dried after a drop had fallen from one of the puncture wounds.

The boy truly was a blood sacrifice – do doubt about it – and Inaho wondered how addicted he was to the venom, considering all the bite wounds on his pale neck.

“Satisfied?” Bat asked quietly while refusing to look at the other boy, and Inaho got a troubling emotion welling up in his heart.

‘ _Pity_ ,’ he thought and stared at the saddened eyes of his opponent that were looking away, as if embarrassed to look at the brunet after showing the painful marks for him. ‘ _I pity him…_ ’

Inaho had been bitten twice, and both of those times had been horrifying to say the least. This boy, however, had been bitten for many years. How many times had he fought back? How many times had his blood been forcefully taken from him?

‘ _How traumatized are you?_ ’

Inaho placed his hand against the boy’s neck, covering the bite marks with a warm palm. The skin beneath his hand was rough from scars, but the thumb gently resting on Bat’s windpipe touched soft skin. It was like the softest velvet, just like Inaho had thought earlier. The soft skin probably covered the boy’s entire body, but his neck had been harshly abused and become rugged with scars.

He raised his emotionless eyes to look at the boy, who stared shocked at Inaho with the gentle eyes that Inaho could remember from the truck. The kind boy was still there behind whatever trauma that had tried to wipe him away. Hatred, anger and desperation had completely disappeared from the blond boy’s eyes, and time stood still.

‘ _When were you last touched like this by another human?_ ’

Bat must have lived secluded from the warmth of another human for many years. The shock in his eyes was probably pulled out from his heart by the gentle heat in Inaho’s hand. How confusing was it for him, Inaho wondered? How did it feel to be touched by a gentle and warm hand after so many years of cold and undead hands handling him without mercy?

Inaho felt the boy swallow hard; the strong muscles in his neck moved beneath his palm. Then, Bat’s expression turned into pained and he desperately tried to hold back a whimper. Inaho watched as Bat tried to be strong and resist the tempting comfort of another human, and he watched him crumble: Bat raised a hand to hold the one Inaho rested on his neck. Strong fingers dressed in a white but dirty glove gripped Inaho’s hand desperately while it trembled, and finally a whimper escaped the boy. The sight made Inaho’s heart ache. The human boy, dressed in a vampire’s uniform, swallowed Inaho’s warmth greedily while tears gathered in the corner of his sorrowful eyes.

“Bat…” Inaho said quietly and was about to continue with a question when the boy interrupted him:

“Slaine…” he whispered and sobbed quietly. “Slaine Troyard.”

Inaho stared at him with surprise now that the boy revealed his name so lightly. It was a name that sounded sad and lonely, but strong and respectable at the same time. Due to the context, Inaho was sure he would remember the name.

“Slaine…” Inaho said silently to continue. “How long have you been a blood sacrifice?”

“Two years,” the silver crowned boy answered. “Ever since I was fourteen.”

Two years of terror and horror. Two years that Inaho would not have survived.

“It must have been pretty long years,” Inaho said and met the eyes of the crying boy who opened them slightly.

Slaine did not answer. Instead he closed his eyes again and raised his other hand to take a hold of the one he was already holding with the other. Two hands held Inaho’s palm pressed against the boy’s wounded neck, refusing to let it go.

“Are you addicted to the poison?” Inaho wondered and watched Slaine open his eyes again and stare back at him. “I heard it’s addictive.”

Slaine nodded.

“If I go without it for about two days it begins to itch,” Slaine said with a voice thick with sadness. “It’s not a normal itch you can scratch. It’s much deeper than that; it reaches all the way into your brain.”

“You get withdrawal symptoms?”

“Awful ones,” the boy answered. “I’ve seen blood sacrifices claw at their necks until they bleed, and not even then did they stop. I have heard that some people have claw their necks until they bled to death by clawing all the way to the major blood vessels.”

Inaho felt sick. What kind of distasteful world was Vers? What worried Inaho was when he would get withdrawal and how he would react to it. He had no idea if two bites were enough to make him feel the withdrawal take form, or if he was still safe.

“How many bites does it take?” Inaho asked.

Slaine shook his head.

“It depends… I was addicted after a handful of bites, but the withdrawal symptoms back then were livable. I don’t know when I became a lost cause since I haven’t been without it for longer than three days or so.”

“They drink your blood with just a couple of days in between?” Inaho asked, suddenly feeling horrified despite it not showing on his emotionless expression. “Wouldn’t you be dead by now?”

“No,” Slaine whispered. “They would mostly bite me and lick the wounds, not drink, to keep me sane.” A tired chuckle followed: “Although, I think it drove me mad in another way instead…”

Now, Inaho understood how dangerous the poison truly was and something unpleasant crawled down his spine. If he was careful then he hopefully would stay safe from the withdrawal symptoms, but what could he do to fight off a cursed creature attacking him? They were much stronger than him.

“How many times can a human last before they are drained?” Inaho then wondered. Now that he had the boy talking he figured he would get as much information as he could from him. Slaine was probably an expert by now, after living among the cursed for a couple of years.

“That depends as well,” the blond boy answered. “It depends on how much blood you carry, how you take care of yourself and what circumstances there are. Ironically it’s a Russian roulette, really,” he explained. “As a blood sacrifice, you survive for as long as your master allows you to. As nothing but a victim, you die mostly after your first bite; they feed on you until the moment before you die.”

“Has that ever happened to you?” the brunet asked, and Slaine shook his head.

“No. Although, I have seen it happen recently. A boy died during the first night of the war in Shinawara, after he had been fed upon by Baron Trillram’s soldiers,” Slaine said with a quivering voice. He looked more saddened now when thinking a couple of days back in time.

In that moment Inaho went entirely stiff. He must have looked shocked since Slaine reacted to whatever face Inaho made the moment the brunet suspected the other boy was speaking about his lost friend.

“Was he dressed in the same school uniform as I was?” Inaho asked and watched Slaine nod slowly. The boy’s hands loosened around Inaho’s. “Dark and short hair?”

“Named Okisuke…?” Slaine asked quietly and stared at Inaho with shock. “Was he your friend?”

Inaho pushed himself up from the floor to stare at Slaine, who still sat with his knees on either side of Inaho’s hips. The brunet stared into the wide open blue eyes so closely their breaths mingled and collided against their cheeks.

“What happened to him?” Inaho asked abruptly, demanding to know what had happened to his friend.

“He…” Slaine began, but did not seem to know how to say what he had to tell. “I… He was already dying … from blood loss when I saw him.” It seemed difficult for Slaine to speak about what had happened. “I tried to assist him … to – to make death more comfortable… I gave him water and kept him company…”

“Did he say something? Anything?” Inaho wanted to know with haste.

“We conversed a little…” Slaine mumbled and looked anxious. “But I don’t think he … really understood what was being said.”

“What did you speak about?”

“Our names… He wondered if he would turn into a cursed creature and … then he asked about the weather,” Slaine said while staring at Inaho. “T-that was it. I’m sorry…”

The experience had been harrowing for the boy, just as it had been for Inaho to see his friend be snatched away from him by a creature of terror. Okisuke must have been so afraid back then. How did a human handle a sudden death like that? The memory still hurt and made Inaho’s heart ache unpleasantly. What had gone through Okisuke’s mind the moment before he died?

“I don’t … think he was really aware of him dying,” Slaine said. His breath brushed Inaho’s lips softly. “I don’t think he was in pain either; just really tired…”

This boy had been there with Inaho’s friend and assisted him by giving him water and speaking to him. No matter how unstable Slaine seemed to be, Inaho knew from this detail alone he was not a bad person. Slaine was brave and – at least during tender moments like these – kind and thoughtful.

“Thank you,” Inaho said with a whisper – his face never changing from the vacant expression. “For being there for him despite him being a stranger.”

Slaine nodded and stayed quiet. So did Inaho. The blond boy let go of Inaho’s hand and hugged his torso as sorrow lingered in his expression. Inaho wondered how that experience had been for the blond boy. Slaine seemed empathic as a person despite the horrors he had lived through, and the brunet suspected him to be a very passionate being since he was able to care for a stranger in an overwhelming situation.

‘ _Maybe I should take him with me to the ship?_ ’ Inaho thought. ‘ _But I need to know for sure he won’t harm the princess…_ ’

“Slaine,” Inaho said and lowered his hand from Slaine’s neck to sincerely look at the other boy. “Why do you want to come with me so badly? I know it’s not because you have nowhere else to go; a desperate person like that doesn’t point a gun toward a possible savior.”

Immediately Slaine’s expression turned heated again; the piercing needlelike glare came back and wiped away the sorrow from his eyes. The arms that had been hugging him fell to his sides and fists were formed by his hands. It was as though the boy had been reminded about a mission he had momentarily forgotten.

“You’re right,” Slaine said with the harsh tone returning to his soft and pleasant voice. “I know you know there is very important cargo on your ship.”

“What do you mean?” the brunet lied, coaxing more details from how Slaine knew about the princess still being alive.

“Don’t play games with me, Orange,” the blond said and glared down at the brunet. “You know what I am speaking about!”

‘ _Again, he changed quickly…_ ’ Inaho thought troubled.

“How would I know what it is you’re speaki-?”

“I saw you take her with you!” Slaine interrupted him angrily. “I saw you carry her away with the cursed girl!”

It became clear – clear enough Inaho could not excuse the boy’s violent behavior: Everything was chaotic around this boy. There was no coherence around him. Slaine was quick to react to affects and make a scene. He fluctuated between two extreme personalities; one that was frightened and timid, and another that was filled with anger and hatred – both powered by passion. One sought for physical comfort while the other tried to push people away.

There was more to this boy than just two years of being a blood sacrifice. These kinds of personality wounds were cut open in early childhood. Inaho of all people should have known this after living at an orphanage with his sister, where too many kids had been living together to have any of them form healthy attachment patterns to other people, and which also affected their developing personalities. All the older children in such orphanages had had some kind of attachment or personality disorder since there had not been enough caring adults around them to give them a secure foundation to build a healthy person on when being really young, and Inaho was sure plenty of the kids had mental issues today. Inaho was one of these kids.

“Who?” Inaho boldly asked. He wanted to hear the boy say it.

“The princess of Vers!” Slaine yelled. “I saw you carry her away!”

‘ _There it is_ ,’ Inaho thought and watched the blond boy who still straddled his hips. The princess… He was after the cursed princess for sure.

“What is your business with her?” the brunet asked, but was startled the moment Slaine put his hands around his throat and pushed him down against the floor once again.

“What is yours, Orange!?” the boy growled after Inaho hit his back against for floor boards, and added pressure onto Inaho’s throat. “You said you would do anything to save those you care about. Would you even exploit her?”

Inaho gasped for breath and tried to pull Slaine’s hands away from his throat, but the hands were clutching around him with incredible strength. The blond boy had been exercising for a long time; he was strong enough Inaho was sure he could break his neck without effort.

“What … if I-“ Inaho gasped with strained voice. “– would…?”

‘ _Have I miscalculated everything about him?_ ’ Inaho wondered as he saw the intense icy fire in the moonlit eyes. ‘ _I was supposed to save him, but he’s too dangerous!_ ’

“Then you truly are my enemy, Orange!” Slaine growled and added so much pressure onto Inaho’s throat the brunet’s head felt as it would explode. “She’s on board that ship, right!? That was all I needed to know; I will find her without you!”

Inaho began to thrash around beneath the blond, but Bat was strong enough to hold him down against the floor. The slight dust layer had been stirred by the violent movements and the particles danced in the silver rays from outside the window. Inaho had to free himself quickly from the mad boy’s hands. The boy was too dangerous like this; Bat had lost his mind. His violent fluctuations made no sense for the brunet, as if Bat was drifting uncontrollably in the emotional currents inside his heart. One moment he was calm and collected. The next moment he was crying from loneliness. The moment after that he was ready to kill. Why? Why was the boy like this? What had happened to him?

Inaho tried to bend the hands away from him to no avail, and an intense pressure built up in his skull. It felt as if bursting wide open and his vision began to darken. He had to get away. He had to do whatever he could to save himself. Quickly he released the boy’s wrists and flattened his hands, swung them out and then smacked his palms as hard as he could over Bat’s ears simultaneously.

“AGH!”

Bat cried out with pain and instantly released Inaho’s throat to raise trembling hands to his ears. Blood trickled out of the left ear and the boy seemed stunned and disoriented. Inaho used this to throw the boy off of him and run down the stairs while he coughed from the choking sensation still lingering around his throat and head. Clumsily he managed to stagger down the stairs and out into the tropical autumn night, and he could hear Bat yell for him somewhere behind him.

‘ _I have to run away from him_ ,’ Inaho thought as his heart beat wildly, and tried to contact the Wadatsumi. ‘ _He’s too dangerous like this!_ ’ he concluded as he heard a loud and infuriated voice behind him echo:

“ _ORANGE!_ ”

†††

How dared he? Anger flared inside him so uncontrollably it blinded him, and he pulled the gun from its holster the moment he got out of the house – ready to use it. Where had Orange run to?

“Curses…!” the boy grumbled and tried to listen to his surroundings, but something was wrong with his ears, especially the left ear that was slightly bleeding. The other buzzed irritably.

Slaine was faintly off balance and had to walk carefully. Orange’s attack had been simple and effective – left Slaine slow and confused. He figured the brown haired boy was running toward the harbor where his ship had been earlier that evening, and he began moving toward that direction.

‘ _I knew it!_ ’ the boy thought and pushed a couple of branches out of his way as he walked on the crackled road leading to the harbor. ‘ _He’s exploiting Asseylum. Damn him! Curse him! How dare he!? First the vampires, and now the humans! I can’t trust any of them!_ ’

He walked for a while and saw his aircraft come into view; he was not far away from the harbor now. Orange had not been seen and Slaine wished he had had a flashlight with him; the reflexes on Orange’s uniform would have revealed his hiding place if he was hiding in the forest.

As Slaine walked past the F-35B waiting patiently for its pilot, a voice coming from next to the aircraft suddenly made a chill run down his spine:

“Slaine Troyard?” Slaine turned immediately to look toward whoever was calling his name and saw a cursed creature stand next to the aircraft. The boy had not noticed her at all. “You are under arrest by the order of Count Cruh-“

That was all that Slaine needed to hear. He knew why she was there and he would not go with her willingly. Without hesitation he interrupted her by raising the gun toward her with hatred pouring out of him, and pulled the trigger. The cursed soldier dodged the bullets and with each movement closed in on Slaine. The boy backed away from her and began to wake up from the intense anger controlling him, and a sudden and nostalgic tidal wave of horror washed over him; Cruhteo had not ordered her to kill him; she was ordered to bring him with her. That could only mean the worst thing Slaine could think about; severe punishment for what the boy had done.

‘ _No!_ ’ the boy thought and threw away his gun the moment it was emptied of bullets, and raised the gun he had taken from Orange instead. It clicked when he pulled the trigger and, before the cursed soldier dealt a kick to his stomach that knocked the wind out of him, Slaine remembered Orange’s words from earlier that night:

“ _It’s not loaded._ ”

†††

Inaho dashed out of the thick forest and got out onto a parking lot belonging to the military base at the base of the mountain. The nature had taken over the empty lot by small trees and robust bushes growing out of the pavement. Further away, rusty fences surrounded the base and he ran toward the gates, just like he had been told to do while communicating with an officer on board the Wadatsumi. Apparently the ship had gotten inside a secret dock in the mountain, which was connected to the military base right outside.

“Nao!” he heard his sister shout and saw her run toward him on the other side of the gates. Inko was running behind her, eager to greet Inaho. They held weapons that were ready to face a battle if it was a must.

The moment Inaho got through the gates he was taken into Yuki’s arms that held him tightly, letting him know how worried she had been for his safety. Inaho was back now, home and in safety of the arms holding him.

“You made it!” Inko gasped and caressed Inaho’s bangs out of his eyes while Yuki held him preciously. “Are you hurt in any way?”

Inaho’s chest heaved violently with each breath he took and he hugged Yuki’s womanly frame and leaned against her for support. His knees shook beneath him from all the running, and each muscle was aching from lactic acid.

“I’m … fine…” Inaho gasped. “Just tired…”

“Let’s get you inside,” Yuki said quietly and looked around the proximity outside the gates to make sure Inaho had not been tailed. Together they all left the area to disappear into the mountain, where Inaho got to greet their new home and the future ruler of the seas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all who let me know these long chapters are fine! I will keep updating them as they are, since most of you (if not all) were fine with long chapters.
> 
> I'm sorry if some of you were hoping for a canon divergence, but this will follow the **main** happenings from the original anime. But, as you have now read, things are becoming very different (Inaho did not attack Slaine first for example; Slaine was insane instead! 8D), and they will keep changing like some kind of butterfly effect. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	12. Then and Now – The Day We Spoke About the Sun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning to sensitive readers. I think you all know what this chapter contains.
> 
> Also, now we went over the 100 000 words mark; we're longer than _The Hobbit_ book! Well done everyone, and thank you for sticking with me and the boys for this long! 8D *celebrates*

Cold but soft lips covering a child’s – breathing life into the small lungs. Cold but gentle hands pushing against a child’s chest – massaging the little heart to restore circulation. A strand of soft hair caressing a child’s cheek – comforting the chilled skin with a gentle touch.

When the eleven year old Slaine began coughing, someone turned him to the side and helped him into position to empty his airways and stomach from sea water. The boy coughed violently for a while as a hand massaged his back, and then he went limp in the stranger’s arms. The stranger turned his head toward them and Slaine opened his eyes to look at who it was. A girl with a worry wading in her emerald eyes stared back at him, asking him with soft and plump lips if he was all right.

“ _Child, we need to take you to a doctor_ ,” the girl said with great concern just in time before Slaine lost consciousness.

Hazily, he now wondered if it was a dream or a recollection. It had been so long ago and yet it was still fresh in his memory. Was it a fantasy, perhaps? Was it something his mind had built to keep itself sane? Perhaps, it was a defense mechanism of the mind he had heard about a long time ago. If he remembered correctly, it was the psychologist Sigmund Freud who first wrote about the human mind’s defense mechanisms to protect the ego.

Another memory resurfaced from the mindless musing, of a man grumbling:

“ _That damn quack. All he was was a drug addict who was the first to speak about the human mind as we know it, and treated his patients with cocaine. He was out of his mind! Why are you even bringing him up in this discussion?_ ”

‘ _When did I hear that?_ ’ Slaine thought and frowned from confusion. It was probably something his father had said a long time ago when talking to another scientist about vampires. Slaine had met countless scientists throughout his life due to his father’s work and, like the impressionable child that he had been, he had picked up on things in the discussions between scientists. Slaine suddenly remembered his father was not fond of Freud at all, calling the former neurologist for King Oedipus himself. ‘ _Now I remember…_ ’ Slaine thought. That name was what had made Slaine interested in ancient Greek mythology to begin with; the boy had searched for King Oedipus to understand what his father had meant by it, and been pulled into a world of thrilling stories. ‘ _Dad…_ ’

“Wake up, blood sacrifice!” a cruel voice growled and a sharp pain attacked his back, forcefully pulling him back into a raw reality.

“AAGH!”

His body had been stripped bare of everything with not a strand of fabric protecting him from the unexpected attacks and the chilly air. The floor was cold and so was the room where Slaine was confined. His fingers and toes ached from the chilly temperature, and his skin was prickled. It was pitch black in there, which robbed him of his vision, and it smelled like something had been rotting inside the room before he had been taken to it. He had no idea what repulsive things covered the floor he lay on, but he knew no one had cleaned it for many years and the disgusting dust and dirt was stuck to his naked skin.

Slaine was not bound in any way; he was free to move around in the room – if he only dared to. The human boy’s only sanctuary was the iron pole welded to the floor, which he clutched desperately with his hands; he was not bound by anything since there was no need to; Slaine had no idea how big the room was or what waited for him in the silent darkness, and that fear had made the pole his only sense of security. He had not dared to release it ever since he had been locked up in the room. If he lost his grip of the pole, he would crumble entirely – and so he held onto it so tightly his fingers ached.

“Well?” he heard the cruel voice of his former master say. “You have gotten time to think. Have you perhaps come to a conclusion that makes you more talkative now?” Slaine shivered and curled up like a terrified child, but a cruel boot pushed against his shoulder, forcing him to roll onto his back. Slaine still held the iron pole with a cramping hand to maintain some sense of security. “What is your objective? Why did you go to that island?” Cruhteo continued.

Slaine stayed silent. He had nothing to tell the man, and he was sure no matter what he said it would not save him anyway. The reason he was tortured was because his former master knew his blood was still tainted by the drugs Slaine had taken hours ago, and it was too risky to bite him until at least a couple of days had passed to ensure his blood had been cleared. Then again, Cruhteo enjoyed torturing him far more than keeping him alive, and Slaine knew his life would most likely come to its end in this dark room, no matter what happened.

Cruhteo waited impatiently for a couple of seconds, and when Slaine stayed silent – without taking any kind of initiative to speak – the sound of a couple of electric sparks next to his ear made him jerk from unpleasant surprise. It was a warning.

“Answer me,” the cruel voice of his former master said from somewhere in the darkness, and when Slaine gritted his teeth to stay silent and prepared for the pain, the now all too familiar conducted electrical weapon was pushed against his side and an electrical current shocked him.

A loud scream erupted from his throat and tore at his vocal cords, and the voluntary movements of his muscles were entirely disrupted. His body began cramping immediately and forced him to curl up and convulse. It felt as if someone was pulling a knife down his spine, cutting his nerves, while his muscles contracted tighter and tighter until they felt like rupturing. It was a raw kind of pain beyond anything he had felt before, and all he could do was scream while time stood mercilessly still. What probably was just a couple of seconds, felt like hours in Slaine’s painful reality.

“ _I believe that is enough, Count Cruhteo_ ,” Slaine heard a familiar voice from a speaker, somewhere behind his screams, and the electric current stopped coursing through his body.

The moment the shock released him, he went completely limp and gasped with trembling breaths. His muscles were sore enough he had no wish to move them, and fatigue spread across his being.

“There is no need to show mercy to a mere blood sacrifice, Count Saazbaum,” Slaine heard Cruhteo say.

‘ _Saazbaum…?_ ’ the boy thought while he renewed his grip around the iron pole with weak fingers.

“ _If he dies, we learn nothing. Keep in mind this is the boy who took a great risk of sneaking into your conference room and communicated with the emperor, and he risked life and limb to hijack one of your most advanced aircrafts. What he has done is extraordinary – you cannot deny that_ ,” Slaine heard Saazbaum say from a crackling speaker.

‘ _How does he know I spoke to the emperor?_ ’ Slaine wondered and sighed heavily to calm his exhausted breathing. The connection to the emperor was supposed to be encrypted. ’ _And why is he interested in hearing what I have to say?_ ’

“ _I would like to know his motives_ ,” Saazbaum continued. “ _If he is a spy then-_ “

“Motives?” Cruhteo asked somewhere in the darkness, interrupting the other count. Slaine tried to carefully look around, but it was so dark he saw nothing. The cursed creatures, however, saw him probably as clearly as in daylight in a monochrome world. “You assume he is capable of independent thought?” the count continued with disgust coiling around each word, and the end of a cane pushed against Saline’s cheek to force his head to the right and expose the scarred side of his neck.

‘ _Spy?_ ’ Slaine thought and felt confused while the end of the cane felt like cutting against his cheek. What was going on? Since when had he become a spy?

“ _Count Cruhteo_ ,” another voice said from a second crackling speaker. “ _We found the remains of Countess Femianne. She appears to have been shot by frangible armor piercing rounds and multiple silver bullets. Cause of death is probably silver poisoning_.”

“What!?” Slaine heard his former master exclaim. “FAP rounds you say…?”

The human boy knew the cursed count directed his attention to him and stared at him with fury. Slaine could almost feel Cruhteo’s gaze lick his dirty skin with fire. It made his skin crawl from disgust, and the boy held his breath while clutching the iron pole with both hands.

“Who killed Femianne, blood sacrifice?” he heard Cruhteo demand. Slaine simply curled up into fetal position, desperately hugging the iron pole with his hands as if praying for the fear to stop. Slaine knew Cruhteo knew Slaine had been one of the cursed countess’s murderers. “Am I wasting my time?” the count then sighed and Slaine heard him move right next to him, probably to attack him. The human boy readied himself for a possible strike by Cruhteo’s dreaded cane.

“ _Pray wait, Count Cruhteo!_ ” Saazbaum’s voice exclaimed, and second later strong hands took a hold of Slaine’s hair and forced him onto his back once again. A cold metallic object forced his lips apart and was shoved into his throat.

It was a gun. The sensation of it told Slaine it surely was a gun. It pushed deep into his throat and made him gag. It pushed so deep he feared Cruhteo would force it all the way against the back of his throat and pull the trigger. The boy gagged uncontrollably, so much he had no time to reflect about the firearm forced down his throat. What he did fear, however, was that he could not breathe. The nozzle nearly blocked his airways, making it difficult to breathe, and Slaine took a hold of his former master’s hand with the weak fingers of a free hand and tried to pull the gun away. Instead, it was shoved deeper into his throat and tears began flowing down Slaine’s temples as his body wanted to vomit.

“Tell me,” Cruhteo purred – clearly enjoying the torture he subjected Slaine to. “Tell me who killed her and I will make your end quick.”

When the gun was removed, the boy turned over to his side and vomited. He had not much in his stomach to throw up, which made him vomit gastric acid. It burned in his throat and nose as it flowed up from both and, the moment he was finished coughing up the burning acid, ice cold water was thrown on him. The boy screamed from the cold shock before he continued coughing after water had forced its way into the boy’s airways.

“Spill it out, blood sacrifice. Tell me your crimes,” his former master said, but Slaine kept quiet. The boy refused to speak. “Then suffer…” Cruhteo grumbled and ordered one of the soldiers to shock the boy again with the electroshock weapon.

A scream forced its way out of his mouth again, and he screamed so loud he tasted blood. He tried to form words of plea, but he could not state them. The pain and shock took the words away from him before they had reached his lips, and were replaced by a loud scream instead.

‘ _Stop! Please, stop! It hurts!_ ’

†††

“How’s it going, Inaho?” he heard Inko say behind him as the brunet lifted a carton of fruit and carried it out into the hallway where Calm took it and passed it on the line of soldiers transporting the boxes of food.

When Calm took it, Inaho looked at Inko and Nina who both carried large plastic bags with cables and small apparatuses on their shoulders.

“We have nearly emptied the galley,” Inaho answered.

“So fast? We have a lot of stuff to carry still,” Nina complained with a juvenile dishearten look on her pretty face.

“They do prioritize manpower to the food transport, you know,” Inko chuckled. “The food might get bad if it’s not quickly moved to the new ship.”

“Oh, yes! Like the ice-cream!” Nina said with a bright smile, and Inko sighed with a smiling frown to the girl’s hopeless naïveté.

The new ship Inaho’s oldest friend spoke about was what they had been ordered to get from the island by the UN admiral of the fleet, who had been called for now that Earth had fallen into a time of war once again. The old and experienced senior admiral had been serving as a vice-admiral in the last war, and was now the most senior of the UN admirals who was suited for the position of commanding several fleets. He had known about the ship U.N.S. Deucalion secretly waiting for orders in the abandoned military facility on Tanegashima, and the Wadatsumi had been closest to it.

“It’s kind of incredible how they have managed to keep this ship a secret. It’s the largest ship there is!” Calm had said when Inaho had been brought on board several hours ago.

It had been named after Deucalion – the son to Prometheus and the equivalent to Noah in the Bible – who built a chest with his father to survive the flood released by an angry Zeus, who had decided to put an end to the Bronze Age after the king of Arcadia had savagely sacrificed a boy to the king of gods. It made Inaho think about the enemy ship names since their ships were mainly named after mythological characters. It was unusual for human vessels to carry such names, such as Deucalion.

The ship U.N.S. Deucalion they had found in the dry dock was the largest aircraft carrier known according to the papers that were found on board. She was a powerful monster of a displacement of 100 000 metric tons, advanced modern armaments, 25 decks, carried a new launching system for aircrafts that catapulted more aircrafts into the air than the cursed creatures’ carriers did, and two state of the art nuclear reactors powered the supercarrier. She was still under construction; the inside of the ship was pretty empty and not finished. It was as if the ship had been abandoned in the middle of the construction, with only the main systems functional.

“They had to hide it,” Inko said to Calm and put down the bags hanging on either shoulder to take a break. Nina followed her example. “If the cursed creatures knew about us building this thing they would have attacked us many years ago.”

“And it was probably a reason to why Lieutenant Marito’s convoy was attacked back then; the cursed creatures saw us transport a lot of valuable materials, and we all know the cursed have tried to strangle our resources for many years to prevent us from building stuff. The materials were probably meant for this ship,” Calm continued thinking out loud with an excited look in his eyes. “You were right about this island, Inaho. It really had a secret. Now we can kick the damn vampires’ asses!”

Inaho kept on working by grabbing the next box waiting to be transported. He was not really interested in the wild speculations like his friends were, and he felt he had a duty to fulfill with helping the crew transfer most of their gear over to Deucalion. The great ship would later be taken to their original destination in South Korea, where they would resupply and man the ship properly. U.N.S. Wadatsumi would be brought with them and protect Deucalion, which would be manned with the minimum amount of crew needed to sail her.

The brunet had been told to rest, but since Inaho found resting tedious and stressed him out when feeling he had no need for it, he had decided to help out with the preparations anyway.

“I heard the officers speak about this hidden shipyard to have been built inside a ravine created by a collapsed volcano,” Nina said enthusiastically. “It’s so huge to room a vessel like Deucalion!”

“Right!?” Calm exclaimed and passed on a box to a crewmember in the corridor. “I bet this ship will be our trump card or something epic like that.”

“It’s just a ship,” Inaho said and heard his friends go quiet. He gave the box to a soldier behind Calm since the other boy had apparently decided to take a break. “It doesn’t matter how big it is; size alone won’t defeat a smart and stealthy enemy.”

Calm grumbled:

“Well, I still think the new ship seems badass…”

They were interrupted by light steps of a little girl with brown hair and, when Inaho looked up at the childlike creature walking up to him, his heart began beating from an excited emotion he could not define; emotions had stormed inside him a lot recently, which was unusual for him. Eddelrittuo had come out of the room where the Versian princess was kept.

“Kaizuka Inaho,” she said with a timid voice, but had a stern look on her plump face as if she felt somewhat bothered to speak to the human boy. “She wants to see you.”

Inaho felt relief from hearing the cursed princess was well enough to see him, and he did not hesitate to immediately ask Eddelrittuo show him to the princess. He put down the box he was carrying and felt an urgent need to see the cursed princess. Why was he so excited? He had no idea. He simply knew he had to see her now that Seylum had woken up, and followed the little cursed handmaiden to the room where the princess was kept.

“My princess,” the little girl said after closing the door behind her and Inaho, and walked up to a curtain that surrounded the bed where the beautiful cursed princess lay. “I have brought him.”

“Thank you, Eddelrittuo,” the chirping voice of the princess said from the other side of the curtain. It was still coarse and weak but, despite that, she sounded healthy. “Please, come closer, Inaho.”

The brunet stepped up to the curtain and pulled it apart and rested his eyes on the enemy princess lying in the bed behind it. Her hair had recently been washed; the golden locks resting on her shoulders were still moist and clumped together like Yuki’s hair used to do after a shower. The skin on the cursed princess’s cheeks blushed with a healthy glow, and empty blood bags lay in a trashcan next to the bed; she had been properly fed.

“How are you feeling?” Inaho asked and was offered a chair by the princess’s handmaiden, who grumbled something about Inaho to address Seylum with her title to show respect. Inaho ignored her.

“I feel better, although my bones are yet to heal properly,” the beautiful princess said and rested a hand on her ribcage. “I was pretty seriously damaged; it took a while for my lungs to regenerate.”

“Damaged?” Inaho asked. “Is that what you vampires call physical complications?”

The cursed princess smiled weakly and nodded. It was quite a lonely way to put it, Inaho thought; as if their wounds and pain did not matter at all. Was that how the cursed creatures related to physical trauma?

‘ _You’re not a broken toy; you’re a creature capable of feeling pain_ ,’ he thought when Seylum looked at the human boy with concern.

“I heard the ship was attacked last night and a cursed knight attacked us twice. I also heard you were the one to fight the enemy off,” she said worriedly.

“Yes, although I must admit I would have preferred someone else to do it,” the brunet answered with a monotone voice – like usual. “Are you treated well by the crew handling you?” Inaho continued; he was less interested in speaking about the attacks than listening to how Seylum was feeling.

“Oh, yes!” the cursed princess said excitedly. “I even got a laptop to have time pass faster while healing. I found this really beautiful photograph of a sun that I have been gazing at for hours,” she said with a gentle and contented smile. “Eddelrittuo. Could you kindly show Inaho the photograph?” she then asked the little girl, who obeyed and opened up the laptop to search for the photo.

“You haven’t seen the sun for a long time, right?” Inaho asked and looked at the picture that was shown to him. It was of a bright sun on a blue sky, and trees were in full bloom at the bottom of the picture.

“No, sadly I have not seen the sun with my naked eye for many years,” the cursed princess said with her smile fading. “I have a friend in Vers who is a human, and he has told me plenty of myths and legends about the sun. This photograph reminds me of the last time we looked at a photo of a sun together. It was the day before this war began,” she explained then with a smile awakening again.

“Is this the blood sacrifice you spoke about when you revealed yourself to me in Shinawara?” the brunet wondered.

“Yes. Last time, he told me about the sun god Apollo from ancient Greece, who apparently had this golden chariot pulled by four strong horses, with which he towed the sun across the sky,” she said happily, and Inaho blinked and stared at her with confusion.

“That’s not entirely correct,” the brunet said and looked at the cursed princess’s surprised expression. “The original sun god who pulled the sun across the sky was Helios. Apollo became the sun god much later in history and is accepted as that due to Latin poetry referring to him as a sun god, but the oldest sources clearly states Helios to be the true god of the sun.”

The princess blushed heavily and her eyes widened with embarrassment.

“W-what?” she asked with shock.

“In the Homeric literature, Apollo is originally a plague-bearer and the Greeks never described him as the one to drive the chariot of the sun,” Inaho continued.

The princess looked confused for a long while, pondering on what Inaho had just said. She had a blush on her cheeks – something that would have been impossible if she had not been recently fed – and looked quite embarrassed.

Inaho continued as he noticed her awkwardness:

“I think your friend is misinformed, and I cannot blame him since it’s a common misconception and sometimes considered the truth depending on who you ask. Even literature is confused about the matter.”

“What do you believe, Inaho?” the cursed princess asked after a pause, and the brunet answered frankly:

“I don’t care either way. I just recite what I have learned in the library I used to frequent before this second war began.”

They spoke for a while about Inaho’s interest in books, and the brunet asked the princess about Vers and its society. Seylum told him about the system in Vers where her grandfather was the emperor, and the second and third generation vampires were counts. Fourth and fifth generation vampires were barons and sixth were knights. Everyone below that were soldiers and citizens of different lower hierarchy.

Inaho learned that the hierarchy was based on the generations simply due to the quality of their curse rather than strength, which was unexpected considering what Inaho had been taught in school. His school books said the cursed hierarchy was built on how many cursed creatures they commanded, but Seylum explained the curse originated from the first generation vampires – the ones who had been cursed during the excavation decades ago, and they had gifted it to others by cursing them as well, only to create subordinates and clans. There was a great weakness to this chain:

“It seems it deteriorates the longer the curse’s chain becomes,” the cursed princess said. “The one being cursed by an eighth or ninth generation vampire risks of becoming a mindless beast that cannot be controlled. The ninth generation consists of the ones who have been lucky to still be intelligent.”

“That means your nation might face destruction if the curse spreads further than it should,” Inaho said and watched the cursed princess nod with a saddened expression.

“That is why we have restrictions on who is allowed to curse and not,” she sighed. “If a beast is discovered, the creator of that cursed beast will face a trial and a suitable punishment, and the beast is put down.”

“Is this the reason to why your kind is so protective of the older generations? Those of third generation and up are an unusual sight for humans since they mostly stay hidden in fortresses,” Inaho wondered and got it confirmed as true by the princess. The cursed countess Inaho had faced last evening had been foolhardy and conceitedly brave to take the humans lightly. She had died because of her mistake. “I believe you told me you are a third generation. Shouldn’t you be considered a countess in that case?” the brunet then asked.

Seylum shook her head.

“No, since I am of the lineage of the emperor I am considered a princess, but it is mostly due to technicalities and rights rather than the curse; there are a couple of second generation vampires who are stronger than me, but they are not given a higher title due to my lineage. Furthermore, my grandfather is the one who founded our nation, and my father is the one who built it. My family name is highly respected in the nation, which makes me the heir to the throne once my grandfather decides to abdicate.”

It was interesting information, Inaho thought. This meant anyone strong enough could basically take over the throne if they so wished, but what kept them from doing so was the citizen’s loyalty to their founder. It was a weak system, but it worked.

“I miss home…” Seylum then said and looked downhearted. She pulled out a talisman from underneath her hospital gown. It was round and seemed to have been made with something that looked like silver but, since it did not scorch the princess’s slender fingers or neck, it must have been made with another precious metal.

“Platinum?” Inaho asked, and the princess looked up at him with smiling eyes.

“Yes,” she chirped excitedly. “It belongs to my dear friend, who inherited it from his father.”

“The same one who sacrificed blood to you and told you about Apollo?” Inaho asked and the cursed princess blushed again.

“Y-yes. He used to tell me a lot about the human world. After decades of being a cursed creature, it makes you isolated from the human ways since our worlds are vastly different. He is a dear friend of mine, and he gave me this talisman as a protective charm,” she explained.

“It seems it worked,” the brunet said. “You have had plenty of good luck ever since you came to Shinawara.”

Seylum smiled brightly and played with the talisman with slender fingers.

“Slaine is the kindest soul I have ever met. He has so much warmth in him – not simply because he has a beating heart, but also because he cares so much about people no matter what species they are,” she said and giggled while thinking back to her friend in Vers.

Inaho stared at her with an unexplainable shock mixing up his thoughts while a chill ran down his spine. Slaine… He had heard the name before – last night from the person in question to be exact. The blond haired boy… Slaine Troyard. The cursed princess spoke about the chaotic boy who had saved Inaho last night from a cursed countess, and who had later tried to kill him. Unexpected emotions began to storm in the boy once again; Inaho was not used to it at all, and he felt nauseous.

“Slaine…?” Inaho repeated and stared at the talisman in Seylum’s hands. It had a blue cross in the middle with four circles surrounding it. It was beautifully carved and made Inaho think back to northern Europe and its eerie mythology and folktales.

“Yes,” Seylum said and looked at Inaho with curiosity. She continued: “I saved him and his father five years ago when the boy was flushed up on the shores of my family’s summer palace. His father was on his way to Vers to do research on the curse. The ship Slaine and his father had been sailing with had hit an old underwater mine that had been drifting, and the boy had somehow ended up on the shore of my family’s estate.”

‘ _Why do I feel invested?_ ’ the boy wondered. It was unusual for him to care about strangers. In fact, he had no memory of him ever doing that before the same way he did now with the cursed princess – and probably the blond haired boy.

“The pattern on it,” Inaho said quietly, and Seylum looked down at the talisman. “It reminds me about a very old North European symbol for protection against evil spirits.”

“Really?” the cursed princess asked excitedly. Her eyes glittered from joy. “Slaine did tell me humans are superstitious like that. You know a lot, Inaho.”

Inaho could only nod. He felt sick to his stomach and his heart squeezed tightly enough it hurt. He had met Seylum’s precious friend last night, and he had left him – probably to die.

‘ _Slaine is the kind one_ ,’ the brunet thought and felt out of breath. ‘ _Bat is the angry one_.’

Inaho felt lightheaded from guilt; something he had never felt before since he never cared that much about others. The boy Seylum spoke about was the timid gentle-eyed boy Inaho had seen in the evacuation truck in Shinawara – not the hate filled fiend he had been last night. The brunet had misjudged him completely and, even if he had been forced to run away to save his own life, Inaho could not justify his decision of leaving him behind.

‘ _This is not good_ ,’ he thought as he noticed something different with him: ‘ _Back in Shinawara, I didn’t care about him too much. Now, however, he’s becoming less a stranger; someone I might have to die for_ …’ It was an unpleasant shock for the brunet. He was not used to caring about people he did not know.

The blond haired boy meant a lot to Seylum; he could not possibly be a danger to her. Slaine had been capable of taking action and, if he was so strongly attached to the cursed princess to chase after her and kill in her name, he could be a great asset to protect the princess.

‘ _Bat thought I was an enemy to the princess… I should have taken him with me; he wasn’t dangerous for Seylum at all_ ,’ he thought and took a deep breath to calm down. ‘ _I need to find him if he’s still alive. I’m sorry, Seylum…_ ’

†††

He woke up with a start and drew in a sharp breath as he opened his eyes. There was only darkness wherever he looked and no sounds were heard around him; he was alone in the room. It was so quiet in the dark that he felt the need to hum quietly to block the soundlessness from crawling into his ears and deafen him. The naked body ached as it lay on the dirty floor in a curled up position and, when he began humming a lullaby he remembered from his childhood, he felt his throat protest. He had been screaming so loud during the torture his throat had gone sore.

While he hummed quietly to keep himself company, Slaine pondered on for how long he had been inside the dark room. He had no idea about the time since there were no windows or anything that would help him figure out what time of the day it was. He was hungry, but even if he would have had been offered something to eat he had no appetite to consume anything.

The cruel Cruhteo had left him after he had let his cane lash down upon the defenseless boy while torturing him for information. Slaine had bravely stayed quiet. He would not risk the fragile life of his secretly beloved princess now when she was vulnerable. There was no one to trust on the ship he had been taken to – probably Cruhteo’s flagship Tharsis. No one from Vers could be trusted until Slaine knew who the true culprit – the one responsible for the assassination attempt on Asseylum – was.

There was nothing that could be called justice with the situation the boy found himself in. While the culprits of the assassination roamed freely, Slaine was being treated like a criminal despite he had tried to stop the war and bring the cursed princess back home to Vers. He had done nothing wrong – at least not according to himself.

‘ _If only I was a one man army…_ ’ he thought and took a deep breath to curl up some more. The air was so cold due to his naked state that he had to do whatever he could to preserve his body temperature – otherwise his body would ache more than it already did.

The door opened into the room and Slaine’s body stiffened. No light shone from outside the door either to let the boy see who was entering his dark chamber. It was a proper torture chamber – Slaine knew that all too well now.  The disgusting smell he had sensed – before his nose had become numb to it – had probably been blood and other body fluids from previous torture victims. The hinges to the door made a loud screeching noise, which hinted the door was massive. Steps – strong and powerful like the steps of a noble, which Slaine would recognize anywhere – came closer, and Slaine instantly tightened his grip around the iron pole and curled up into a pitiful ball. He knew Cruhteo could see his disgraceful form, but Slaine had neither pride nor honor left to care.

The tip of a cane pushed against his jaw, forcing Slaine to raise his head where he rested it on the floor. Instantly, the boy felt the distressing feeling of vulnerability increase.

“Ready to talk yet?” he heard the cruel voice of the man who enjoyed torturing him. Slaine did not answer. “Why did you steal a plane?” No word came from the human boy’s lips. Slaine stayed resilient despite the torture; he would never tell Cruhteo the boy had found the princess alive. “Talk, or I will result to torture you some more.”

Slaine gritted his teeth and a whimper escaped him. He feared the strikes and shocks, the cold water and the painful kicks that made his bones and muscles ache. Despite that, he refused to say a word to the cursed count.

Cruhteo ordered soldiers to raise him up from the floor, and Slaine let out a frightened gasp the moment strong hands grabbed him by his arms and forced him to stand. The boy’s breaths trembled as fright began to build up inside his tired frame and, when he was forced to release the iron pole, he instantly broke down into a cry. He was crumbling from fear; he had lost the grip around the iron pole; the sole thing that had made him feel safe inside the room of terror.

He was moved somewhere away from the one point of safety he had had in the room. His legs did not carry him since he was so weak it hurt to walk, which resulted in him being dragged along by the soldiers who held him up by his arms. What would they do to him?

‘ _Please…!_ ’ he thought begging, but dared not to voice his fear.

“No matter how far science advances, these measures always remain primitive,” he heard his former master say with amusement playing in his cruel voice. “And sometimes…” Slaine’s hair was brutally grabbed at the back of his neck, and the boy yelped. “… Primitive measures are the most effective procedures.”

Slaine could swear Cruhteo found the sight of him pleasing – pleasurable even. The pause the cursed man made told Slaine he enjoyed it far more than drinking his blood. It felt disgusting. Humiliating. Terrifying…

“Do it,” Cruhteo’s voice commanded, and Slaine got a brief second to wonder what was going on before he was pushed down.

Ice cold water covered his head as it was pushed beneath the surface in some kind of water tank that had been standing in the room all along without Slaine knowing about it. The cold water caused his head to ache and terror broke out in his scattering mind. He could not breathe. He could not get up. He was forced down by a strong hand gripping his hair at the back of his head while a strong grip pinned his arms behind his back. He was held beneath the surface of ice-cold water for what felt like an eternity.

The terror of drowning erupted inside his heart and mind the moment his lungs began to warn him about the lack of oxygen, and he began to scream as loud as he could beneath the surface. That was when he was pulled up, and cold water poured down his torso when he was forced into an upright position. He gasped for breath while he quietly cried, and heard his former master say:

“Unpleasant, is it not?” It was a mocking question and Slaine was not given the time to even make a decision if he would answer or not; his head was forced down beneath the surface of the cold water again.

Water seeped into his nose as he was unprepared for the torture, irritating his airways enough he needed to cough. He tried to pull himself free from the strong hands gripping him, holding him in place like vises, as he was desperate to breathe normally due to the aching lungs that felt like bursting. The headache increased in strength and his body began to tremble, and then he screamed again.

“Now, now… What’s the matter, boy?” he heard Cruhteo say pleased after Slaine was pulled up from the water again. The blond boy collapsed in the hands of the unknown soldiers holding him, and he shook visibly and coughed between gasping cries.

‘ _Please…!_ ’ he thought and tried to form the words with his quivering lips, but no voice came forth.

“Oh?” Cruhteo purred when he noticed Slaine trying to say something. “Has that loosened your tongue?”

Slaine was about to put effort into begging for mercy when he stopped himself and rethought it. Why would he cry for mercy? It would not lead to any salvation anyway since Cruhteo was determined on killing him once he got the information out of him he so much wished for. Slaine had to be brave despite it would lead to his demise. If he would die anyway, he could die with at least some kind of dignity to his name – even if the dignity would die with him.

“Your … loyalty,” Slaine whispered with a hoarse and shuddering voice. “Does it still lie … with Princess Asseylum…?”

Strong and powerful steps echoed in the silence that followed, and strode up to Slaine. The end of Cruhteo’s cane whipped across Slaine’s face – leaving his left cheek pounding with pain – and a hand gripped his jaw.

“Impudent boy!” Cruhteo growled threateningly.

As the cursed count’s frustrated breaths collided with Slaine’s lips and cheeks, the boy knew where the man’s eyes were. Slaine opened his wet eyes to look at his former master in the darkness, and let hate flow into his gaze. He glared at where he expected Cruhteo’s angry eyes to be with the tainted look Cruhteo so much hated.

‘ _This is what you cursed have made me into_ ,’ Slaine thought and kept staring into the darkness with the impure glare Cruhteo disliked. ‘ _Feast your eyes on me, traitor, for this is the look of someone who knows your secret. Let it fester in you._ ’

“Continue the torture,” Cruhteo finally hissed to the soldiers and let go of Slaine’s face, and the blond was pushed down into the water once more.

‘ _I will protect you…_ ’ Slaine thought and saw the flickering image of a smiling Asseylum behind his closed eyelids, before he began to scream in the water again.

†††

Two days later, the dry dock in the hidden shipyard had been filled and the massive ship was now ready to set sail. Inaho stood in the Operations Room on board the U.N.S. Deucalion, waiting for the captain. He had been ordered to wait for her in there since Captain Magbaredge had something to speak to him about. Inaho looked through the porthole at Wadatsumi slowly exiting the secret dock inside the manmade cave while Deucalion’s turbines and engines had just been made operational. The engines had not been used for a very long time, which had made the entire machine crew stressed to test the systems and make them function.

The ship had been standing abandoned for at least five years – probably more – and patiently waiting for her duty to come. The speculations of why she had been resting in her dry dock – unfinished and hidden – for so many years were about keeping her a secret from the cursed creatures and the lack of materials to finish the construction. It made sense: If the cursed creatures knew about the humans having a supercarrier made solely to act as counter attacker to their majestic fleets, this second war would have begun much sooner.

Inaho had had plenty of time to ponder on what had happened in the abandoned house during the night he had met the fellow human boy with the enemy uniform. What he believed had happened that night was some kind of connection to the blond boy, based on curiosity. Guilt had been eating away at him after hearing the cursed princess speak so fondly of the blond haired boy. It was a mystery why the brunet was so emotionally involved. It bothered him. Inaho had decided to stay quiet about his encounter with the boy. It would have broken Seylum’s heart to know the human boy, who had been her dearest friend for many years, had lost his mind like that. Inaho wondered what Bat’s motivation to find Inaho, and ask him to bring him along, was. The boy had clearly seen Inaho as an enemy.

‘ _He became hateful the moment the princess was brought up_ ,’ Inaho thought. ‘ _He didn’t want her to be exploited, which means he’s not the enemy._ ’

Inaho had spent a lot of time with the recovering princess during his breaks and listened to her speak about Slaine ever so fondly. The more the brunet heard about her affection for the boy, the more Inaho liked him as well. The boy Seylum painted with her words was a kindhearted soul. The boy she spoke about wished for nothing but happiness for both worlds, and was cheerful and open as a person.

After many hours of wading around in tender memories, Inaho felt as if he knew the boy Slaine was supposed to be. It felt as if he had been there in the palace corridors with the boy and the princess, listened to him tell marveling ancient stories and speak encouraging words and thoughts about world peace. Inaho had noticed he had gotten trouble to distinguish Seylum’s memories from his own; it felt as if her memories were his as well.

It felt confusing.

“Kaizuka Inaho,” he suddenly heard the captain say behind him, and Inaho turned around to salute to her and the female officer when they entered the room. Behind them, a weak but walking Seylum followed with support from her handmaiden, and Rayet walked behind them. The captain seemed to already know about Rayet; otherwise the girl would not have been there.

“Captain Magbaredge,” Inaho said and lowered his hand back to his side.

“I have been speaking with Her Highness and your friend, Miss Areash, who has supported you during your battles with the enemies. I have also been informed about the culprits behind the assassination attempt on the cursed princess,” the captain said as they all gathered around the table in the middle of the room.

The captain let them all know she had decided not to make the assassination attempt public. There was no guarantee the news of Her Highness still being alive would not spread to the wrong kind of people, and to protect her Captain Magbaredge ordered a gag on the entire ship crew; no one was allowed to even mention the cursed princess in radio communications, neither in internal nor external radio exchanges. If the word reached the ones who were responsible for the assassination attempt, they might come after Wadatsumi and Deucalion.

“We are headed toward South Korea as we speak, and will reach it tomorrow evening. There, we shall regroup and I will personally speak to the admiral of the fleet about this matter,” Captain Magbaredge continued and looked at the cursed princess. “We will get you to your grandfather one way or another, Your Highness.”

“You have my eternal gratitude, Captain Magbaredge,” Seylum said and gave the captain a curtsy.

“As for you, Kaizuka Inaho and Rayet Areash,” the captain continued and looked at Inaho and Rayet after she folded her arms over her proud chest. “You neglected to inform me about you being in a pact, and that Rayet is a cursed creature. I do expect you to understand this is serious.”

“I’m not one of you,” Rayet said. “I don’t answer to you.”

The captain stared at her for a while, before turning to look at Inaho.

“And you, Kaizuka Junior?” the captain asked him.

“I didn’t neglect to do it,” Inaho said honestly and stared at her without blinking. “I elected not to.”

“Be careful of your words,” the female officer next to the captain said with a stern look in her eyes. “You are treading on thin ice.”

“I will speak honestly,” Inaho continued to counter the officer’s warning; it mattered nothing to him. “There is no guarantee the entire crew can be trusted, and I need Rayet’s strength since our soldiers are inexperienced. She agreed to fight with me to protect the cursed princess, and by that protect our only chance to end this war. If you consider that a crime, then give me what you think is a suitable punishment.”

“We cannot trust the cursed creatures either,” Rayet continued with distaste spewing out from each word she spoke about her own kind. “Vers is built up on an archaic feudal system. Its citizens live on the blood from the living and rely on their physical abilities during a war. The common people are starving since blood is a luxury item despite it being a basal need, and they are obsessed with glory in battle to improve their standing and ease their access to blood. The nobles simply stomp on their desperation to survive like they mean nothing. How could anyone trust people like that?” Rayet’s voice began trembling the more she spoke, until Inaho was certain tears had gathered in the girl’s eyes. “All vampires are the enemy…” she then said and left the room with hurrying steps.

The room went quiet for a short moment, before the captain sighed and rubber her forehead.

“The crew on board the ship will learn about Miss Areash, Her Highness and Miss Eddelrittuo, and those who are willing shall donate blood to them to keep them fed,” she said with a tired voice. “Kaizuka Junior,” the captain continued. “I will put you on guard duty and look after Her Highness until we reach South Korea. Honor my order, or I will have to discipline you.”

“Yes, captain,” Inaho answered, and they were all dismissed.

As they walked down the corridor, Inaho thought back to what Rayet had said back in the Operations Room. Her words had been harsh and probably true, but the sadness that now waded in the princess’s emerald eyes was hurting him too for some reason. It made an impulse dash through him, and he could not stop himself from saying:

“Seylum- I mean, Princess Asseylum. I need to-“

He was interrupted by the chirp of the beautiful cursed girl:

“Seylum is fine,” the princess smiled, and Inaho stared at her for a short moment without knowing what to say. “You have risked your life to save mine. Therefore, I believe you should be allowed to see me as an equal.”

“No, he is not, my princess!” Eddelrittuo shrieked and glowered at Inaho with a childish look on her face.

“Forgive her fiery nature,” the cursed princess said apologetically and gave Eddelrittuo a scolding frown. The little girl whimpered and hung her head for having done something Seylum did not approve. “She protects me in her own way.”

“I understand,” Inaho said – not caring about the handmaiden’s outburst – and answered the cursed princess’s previous comment: “I didn’t save you because of you,” he explained candidly. “I saved you to save those I care about. You are the key for halting this war, which makes your safety the most important of all. Without you, more of my comrades will die – and eventually I will as well.”

Inaho noticed immediately the cursed princess did not entirely agree with him even if she knew he was right. Despite her dangerous nature, she was very humble:

“Even so,” Seylum said and looked up at Inaho with a small smile. “I am to the highest degree grateful for your bravery. I am in debt to you, so hesitate not to ask me of anything you need at any time, Inaho. Additionally, I will do my best to help you stop this war.”

The cursed princess was noble, Inaho though – not only because of her being a princess, but because she was a kind person. The brunet could see small similarities between her and the kindhearted Slaine she had spoken about, and it had not surprised Inaho if they had colored each other during the years they had spent together. Inaho had to be honest with himself and admit he felt a new kind of longing to meet this Slaine Troyard a second time; he wanted to see in him what Seylum saw, and he wanted to meet the kindhearted boy who regrettably was drowning in hate.

Inaho felt compelled to somehow let Slaine’s hope reach Seylum; he owed that to the boy. Even if it would not fix the guilt Inaho felt for leaving Slaine behind, he still thought of it as a must to deliver the blond boy’s longing to find her to the person in question:

“Seylum… Back on the island, I met this Versian soldier,” he said and kept her reaction under careful observation. “He was searching for you and feared you were being used by us.”

The cursed princess stopped and stared at him with wide eyes.

“You mean…?”

“I believe you still have people on your side that really believe in you and wish for your safe return – enough they will fight us humans to get you back,” Inaho said and looked at Seylum, who raised her hand to the talisman hanging around her slender neck. “Don’t let that make you drop your guard, though,” he warned. “Be careful of who you trust.”

Seylum got a beautiful smile onto her lips, and she seemed grateful for Inaho’s encouraging and caring words. Inaho wanted her to keep smiling like that, and he thought:

‘ _I will protect your smile, Seylum, since that is what Slaine would have wanted to do._ ’

†††

“ _That is such a sad tale!_ ” Asseylum had smiled with eyes gleaming with gentle excitement. “ _I had no idea you liked these kind of books, Slaine_.”

Slaine had blushed and tied his small hands behind his back like the child he had been back then. He had just told the cursed princess about a story he had read in the books in the library of the royal palace. It had been a children’s book about Greek mythology, and the particular story Asseylum had become so excited about had been the mythology about the Titan Atlas. Atlas was the leader for the Titans during the great war between Titans and the Olympian Gods, called Titanomachy. The war had started when Zeus decided to overthrow his father Cronus, who had been the king of the universe at that time and ruled with tyranny. Atlas and his Titan peers had lost the war, and Zeus had condemned him to forever stand on the western side of Gaea – the earth – and carry Uranus – the sky – on his shoulders.

“ _All the pictures of him carrying the world on his shoulders are untrue, my princess_ ,” Slaine had said excitedly. “ _He does not carry the world – he carries the sky! Is that not amazing, my princess!?_ ”

“ _A great war…_ ” the cursed princess had sighed instead, and had looked downhearted – clearly thinking about the Nightfall war. “ _It is so sad we cursed and you humans cannot live together_.”

The young Slaine – who had not been older than thirteen – had looked at her with sincere determination and said:

“ _But we can!_ ” The cursed princess had looked at him with surprise. “ _With careful thinking and hard work, it is possible! There cannot be so much evil people in the world that peace is impossible._ ”

Asseylum had smiled gently and patted Slaine’s soft hair.

“ _Do you really think so, Slaine?_ ” she had asked.

“ _Yes! We can all live together if we all just put our mind to it. I am positive about that so do not feel sad, my princess. One day we will live together – humans and cursed alike!_ ”

A cruel hit over his back forced Slaine back to reality. For a slight moment, calm had come over his mind and taken him back in time to the peaceful life he had lived together with Asseylum in the royal palace. Back then, he had been a healthy boy with life bustling in his tiny frame. Now, he was reduced to nothingness by lying on the dirty floor while his former master watched a soldier beat him with a whip hard enough ugly wounds opened up his skin. Blood trickled down his sides and some of it pooled in the hollowness between his strong back muscles, making it into a small aqueduct for blood.

Ache. Cutting pain. Shock. Madness… It all clashed inside him over and over again anew, sometimes gnawing away at his mind like vultures trying to rip it apart, and other times it numbed his heart until it consisted of nothing but void. At times it made him drift away to something comforting – memories of pleasant times – as a mechanism to keep him alive and somewhat sane during the overwhelming episodes of terror.

Now, he was forced back into reality, and a cruel boot covered his temple.

“Well, blood sacrifice?” he heard his former master say. “Have you been made obedient yet?” Slaine only gasped for breath, weak and tired. “No?” Cruhteo then purred, and suddenly pressure increased against his head as the cursed count slowly transferred his weight to the boot on top of Slaine’s head.

The boy awoke from his exhausted state, putting his reserved energy to work as he screamed from pain and desperately thrashed around to free himself. It hurt as if his skull was about to be flattened. The pressure was so intense he feared his head would be crushed beneath Cruhteo’s cruel boot. Just before something was about to crack in his head, Cruhteo released him and instead dealt a kick to his stomach. Slaine rolled over, coughed and moaned from pain while he slowly pulled his wounded arms close to embrace his naked self. When would all this pain stop, he wondered? Had he not been through enough? How long would he last?

“Speak, blood sacrifice! I will not show you mercy until you speak!” Cruhteo cursed, and Slaine heard him crouch down next to him. Fingers coiled around his hair and pulled him slightly up from the metal floor that had been wetted with blood. Slaine groaned and gasped with pain, and frantically tried to steady his weakened body to ease the tugging pain in his scalp. “Why are you so persistent, boy?” Cruhteo’s voice asked close to his face.

Slaine’s trembling gasps made it impossible to speak. He was so weak and exhausted, frightened and cried, that he could not form words. What words would he voice anyway? He had nothing to say to his former lord, and he knew Cruhteo would torture him until he died no matter what he chose to whimper.

‘ _Back then, Asseylum saved my life. If it weren’t for her, I would not be alive, so … This time I- I will save you, my beloved Asseylum. I won’t tell them you’re alive… I won’t let anyone use you for their personal gain; you’re too pure and precious for that._ ‘

His silent prayer was interrupted by an electrical shock and his muscles instantly cramped tighter and tighter. All he could do was to scream with a broken voice and wait until he was released from the shock. It went on for longer than the previous shocks he had gotten, and it kept going for a longer time than he expected. His loud scream became quiet and the muscles keeping his bodily wastes from leaking relaxed. It was humiliating and made him feel like an animal, and when the shocks stopped he began crying out loud. Never had he been reduced into a smaller creature than he was now, and the hopelessness was overwhelming. His heart felt like it had been ripped apart.

“How unsightly,” Cruhteo scoffed amused. “Continue,” he then ordered a soldier.

“ _Count Cruhteo!_ ” Saazbaum’s voice crackled from a radio while Slaine still cried loud enough it echoed in the room. “ _If you continue, he will certainly die._ ”

“It would not be a tragic loss,” Cruhteo answered irritably. “To think Her Highness lost her life for trusting the worthless delusions of someone as low as this boy... She must he rolling in her grave.”

“ _Do not lose your composure_ ,” Saazbaum continued. “ _He will break and speak soon enough; do not kill him yet_.”

“He splatters mud on our pride, Count Saazbaum!” Cruhteo said angrily.

A mad laugh bubbled up in Slaine’s throat and turned his cry into a chuckle. Listening to the two cursed counts debating about what to do with him had made him finally lose his mind. The laugh increased as his mind spun with insanity, but he was quickly silenced with a sudden electric shock to his back.

“He has already lost his mind. There is nothing to gain from this boy anymore,” Cruhteo said.

“Do you … still care for your … princess that much?” Slaine whispered and lay limp on the floor while staring at the darkness before him with half open eyes.

“What?” Cruhteo asked angrily.

“Are you … her ally?” Slaine continued.

“Yes, of course,” Cruhteo scoffed pleased, probably thinking the boy was ready to speak. “I care for Her Highness enough to avenge her. For your crimes, I sentence you to watch as I give your human friends a taste of even greater horror.”

Slaine chuckled quietly.

“I knew it…” he whispered and closed his eyes in surrender.

‘ _I knew you don’t care about Asseylum; had you done that you would have met the humans with humility rather than death and terror_ ,’ Slaine thought and took a weak breath to give up and let whatever happened, happen.

“What do you know?” Cruhteo asked now that Slaine awoke his interest.

When Slaine refused to answer, the cursed count ordered a soldier to cast a bucket of cold water over the boy, and Slaine curled up the moment water poured over him. His flesh wounds stung like burning needles stabbing him, and he screamed from pain again.

“Tell me, boy,” the cursed count hissed. “What do you know?” When Slaine stayed silent after collecting his mindless calm, a horrifying order came from the count: “Enough. Slice his throat open. Wet the floor with his blood.”

Slaine opened his eyes with horror at hearing those words and, the moment hands touched his wrists and ankles, he began kicking to fight them off. It surprised him since he had been sure he had been ready to die just a breath ago. His skin crawled with humiliating terror to have these unknown cursed soldiers touch him as if he could satisfy their pleasures to kill, and when he was forced onto his back – with his arms held above his head and with his head pulled up to expose his throat – he screamed with fury:

“YOU JUST WANT A REASON TO GO TO WAR, TRAITOR!”

“Hold it!” Cruhteo immediately ordered the soldiers. “What did you say, boy?”

“Traitor!” Slaine yelled with the broken voice tearing up his throat further. “Liar! Her Highness only wished for peace, and yet you trampled her dream and used her death for your own gain!”

“How dare you…?” Cruhteo hissed. “Do not speak about Her Highness so lightly!”

“Have you no shame!?” Slaine continued.

“Silence!”

“A foul criminal like you will be brought to justice! If I cannot do it, someone else will!”

“I told you to be silent, blood sacrifice!”

“May Heaven and Hell condemn you for what you have done to Princess Asseylum’s precious peace, traitor!”

“HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A TRAITOR, FILTHY HUMAN SPY!?” Cruhteo’s powerful voice shook the air in the room and Slaine fell into silence.

Again, he was called a spy. The remaining energy poured out of him after exerting his body to yell at his former lord, and he became limp from exhaustion once again; nothing he said mattered; he was the traitor according to them.

‘ _Okisuke…! Is it dark where you are?_ ’ the blond thought shocked as he realized he was to die in this darkness that surrounded him – in a similar terrifying way the human boy had died back in Shinawara. ‘ _I don’t want it to be dark anymore! I don’t want to be in darkness!_ ’

Slaine heard Cruhteo curse at him somewhere far away; he could not bother to listen to him anymore. His heart ached horribly and he felt nauseous and disoriented now that the scorching anger was suffocated. The heartache felt as if it crawled out into his shoulders and arms, and pressure began to grow over his chest. He became anxious and felt a shortness of breath. The terror of dying gave him palpable physical symptoms. The symptom scared him; made him panic. Were they even symptoms?

He gasped and tried to pull his hands free from the soldier holding his wrists, but they held him tightly.

“R-release … me…!” he gasped and felt shock take over. “I…!”

A sense of doom crawled over him as his body stiffened with unexplainable panic, and he finally began crying uncontrollably. His heart burned. Something was really wrong, but he could not point out what it was. He was terrified of dying. The heart was screaming from pain inside his chest and the anxiety grew until he began whimpering like a frightened child. He wanted his father to hold him like he used to when Slaine had been a toddler. He wanted to feel Asseylum’s fingers run through his hair and hear her say everything would be all right. He wanted to feel Orange’s warm touch against his neck and hear his pitying words that confirmed Slaine’s pain was true; that someone heard and saw him. Anything that was considered human – anything at all; be it a gesture or human warmth itself – was all he longed for in that moment; something to keep him sane…

Cruhteo ordered the soldiers to release him and Slaine began mindlessly crawling away – to somewhere where he could feel the slightest bit safer – gasping while he dragged his wounded body over the dirty floor. He wanted to hide somewhere and suffer in peace as if hiding from Death itself, hoping he would be spared and, after a while of crawling, he came to a wall. There he curled up with his back against it, and he covered his head with his bleeding arms.

“Boy…” Cruhteo said somewhere further away and steps came closer to him. “What do you know about the princess?” Slaine could only cry quietly. He had ceased to be a human due to the great pain in his chest. “Tell me, what do you know, boy?” Cruhteo asked again. His voice was not threatening. It sounded as if he suspected something of shock value. “Slaine…”

The moment a cold hand touched Slaine’s arm, the boy began screaming like a cornered animal with no means to protect itself, somehow hoping his scream would be heard by someone who would show him pity. The touch itself was like a death sentence and he could not reason with his sudden fear. He howled so loud he tasted blood; his throat felt wounded from the inside – and he continued screaming until the touch disappeared; the immediate threat vanished with it, and he turned to silent whimpers again.

“Why did you call me a traitor?” the cursed man asked. “You know something that is very crucial, do you not?”

A second touch made him scream as loud as he could and, as he was pulled up from his hiding place, he weakly and pathetically tried to free himself to crawl back against the wall. He struggled as carefully as possible; as if he instinctively was cautious enough the man would not get angry at him for struggling. When he was pulled up into an embrace, his body went limp – as if giving up on struggling – while he continued screaming like a wounded animal. Something brushed the disheveled bangs from his screaming face and gentle fingers beneath his chin raised his head. Saliva and blood pooled in the back of his throat and Slaine made a quick pause in his scream to swallow, and then continued screaming. His former lord leaned over him without Slaine resisting him and, within moments, fangs punctured his neck despite the risk of Slaine’s blood being tainted. The screaming quieted down quickly as he was cast under Cruhteo’s spell; the venom was powerful enough to calm him down from the panic attack.

“Slaine. Why did you steal an aircraft and go to that island?” he heard his former master ask after his neck had been released from the fangs.

“… To find a boy called Orange…” the boy whispered with the voice he had destroyed.

“Why did you need to find this Orange?”

“Because he … knew where the princess … was kept…” Slaine said and gasped. The burning sensation in his heart had not stopped, nor had his body been freed from the exhausting feeling. Despite that, he was too numb to care.

Cruhteo went silent for a while, and then asked:

“Is Her Highness alive?”

“Yes…” Slaine answered and began to lose consciousness.

“You…” Cruhteo said with shock. “How do you know this?”

“I saw her…”

“You tried to keep her safe from me? Did you think I was trying to kill her?”

“Yes…” the boy mumbled and closed his eyes. “Anyone might be a traitor…”

The arms holding him tightened around him and a hand brushed through his hair. It felt comforting and gentle.

‘ _Don’t stop…_ ’ Slaine thought as the cursed count’s venom began to release its grip around his mind. ‘ _Don’t let me go…_ ’

The crackling of a speaker made Slaine slowly open his eyes as he rested in his former master’s arms, and a female voice said hurriedly:

“ _Count Cruhteo! We are under attack!_ ”

‘ _What…? By who?_ ’ Slaine wondered, but his mind began to slip away.

A tremble went through the room as something exploded somewhere close by and shook Slaine awake once again. Immediately he began to slip once more to that peaceful place of empty sleep. Slaine could not understand the situation of the ship being under attack, nor could he react to it. He was so weak and in emotional shock that he simply did not care what was going on around him as long as he got to sleep.

‘ _It hurts…_ ’ he thought as he heard Cruhteo yell an order, which he did not understand as his hearing was clouded from exhaustion. The wounds and sore muscles stung horribly. ‘ _My heart aches…_ ’ He took a deep breath when he was hugged closer by his former lord as the ship shook once more. ‘ _I’m cold…_ ’ He was lifted up and placed on something soft, and he winced the moment his wounds got in contact with the softness of a thin mattress. Another explosion echoed in the ship and, a breath later, the human boy felt his body relax entirely; he was disconnected from reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge change has happened here with Inaho and how he sees Slaine. In the anime he thought of Slaine as an enemy and warned Asseylum about people looking for her. Now, things are very different. Can't wait for writing the 2nd cour now! 8D Also, I wanted to give Slaine some foolhardy temperament to let him vent some of the dark/insane stuff he carries around and have him lash out on Cruhteo as a "last stand". *tries to imagine Cruhteo's face when Slaine did that* (Too bad it was dark in the room that Slaine couldn't see it - aka let me write about it.) xD


	13. Darkness Visible

It was in the middle of the night in South Korea. The autumn wind was cold and Inaho stood in the opening to one of the cargo holds on board Deucalion – dressed in the orange deck overalls – to look at the sea while he was deep in thought. He could only see the tip of the waves when the moonlight reflected in them, and for the first time in his life he saw the moon ever so clearly. It was a brightly illuminating orb hovering in the sky, which was surprising since Inaho had only seen the moon as it had been drowning in the city lights of Shinawara. Now it was bright – not as bright as the sun, but not weak either. It must have had the same kind of intensity back on Tanegashima. The silvery crown of Slaine Troyard came to his mind and the image of the boy flickered in the forefront of his mind.

Despite the moon’s beauty and the sea’s pleasant sounds, Inaho could not get a proper rest. His mind spun around, constantly reminding him about the boy he had left on the island. It frustrated him greatly to not know if Slaine was all right or if he had been killed, and the guilt had kept him awake while most of the crew had gone to bed. Only those who had the nightshift or were on call duty made him company in the ship’s corridors.

‘ _Slaine… Are you still out there?_ ’ Inaho thought and folded his left hand fingers to rub the palm of his hand as if playing with an invisible object. He could still feel the sensation of scarred skin on the boy’s neck. He could still hear the silent sobs of hopelessness that had played in Slaine’s expression. ‘ _I’m sorry…_ ’

“Are you always this withdrawn from others, Inaho?” he heard a sweet chirp ask behind him. The brunet immediately knew who it was and turned around to greet the enemy princess, who silently walked up to him to look at the sea. “It is beautiful out at sea during the night,” Seylum then continued with a kind smile playing on her rosy lips; she had been recently fed.

Seylum and her handmaiden had been following Inaho ever since the captain had ordered the brunet to look after the cursed princess. He had shown her the ship while he had been on a personal quest to get an overview of how the ship’s interior looked like, and they had had plenty of discussions – both interesting and trivial – to have time pass. Inaho had left the cursed princess in her private cabin a couple of hours ago after a brief initial meeting with the admiral of the fleet, who had greeted the two ships when they had arrived to port. Now she seemed to have come back to have time pass with him again. Eddelrittuo was nowhere to be seen, which probably meant she wanted to have a private time with him.

“You can see it perfectly, can you?” Inaho asked and looked at Seylum gazing at the moonlit sea with her emerald eyes, deliberately ignoring her first question.

“Yes,” Seylum answered and turned to look at him instead. Inaho was still not used to how kindly she looked at him; they had only known each other for a handful of days. “It is mainly black and white, but I can see everything as clear as daylight. On the other hand, I must say the monochrome world is less breathtaking than the colorful one.” She turned her eyes toward the sea once more, and attacked Inaho with a similar question like the first one: “The sea can be overwhelmingly big; reminding me of how small I am compared to the things around me. I always feel lonely like this, so I try not to gaze at the world alone; to have someone to do that with is much more pleasant. Do you never feel lonely when standing out here, gazing at the open world?”

“Did you do that with Slaine as your company?” Inaho asked and looked out at the dark but glittering sea as well, avoiding her question about his loneliness a second time.

Seylum’s smile got lonesome in the corner of Inaho’s eye, and she brushed a straying strand of silk away from her face; the wind was tousling her golden hair.

“I did – a couple of times. It is always comfortable to have him with me since his presence is so gentle and openhearted,” she answered, but then looked at Inaho again to let the brunet know he would not be able to avoid her question a third time. “With whom do you gaze at the world, Inaho?”

The boy looked up at the moon and thought of what to answer. He disliked speaking about himself on such a personal level since it made him bare his heart and soul to people. It was highly uncomfortable, like most people like him thought. People who put pressure on him to socialize and offer personal openness to conversations gave him a difficult feeling that made him want to distance him from them. Inaho never wanted to be emotionally available to people; it simply did not feel right.

‘ _But that has recently begun to change, hasn’t it?_ ’ he thought.

“I’m not like most others,” the brunet finally said. “I like looking at the world alone like this.”

The princess gave him no moment to think about what to say next before her asking:

“Why? How are you different to the other people on board this ship?”

Would she understand if Inaho simply told her the name of his clinical condition? He suspected she – like most people – would not know what it implied, and start spinning out of control with her own interpretation of his disorder.

‘ _Then again, I am assigned to take care of her and I don’t know for how long I have to do that_ ,’ he thought. It was only fair he explained his behavior to her; in the end it would not matter too much.

“People usually mix my condition with autism spectrum disorder, and it’s common even professionals do that since the two disorders are similar even if they are widely different,” he began as he had decided to explain who he was and how he thought as simply as possible, to let the cursed girl understand his behavior: “I enjoy to be left alone and not be emotionally attached to people, except a few, since socializing tends to be a hassle. Relationships have a tendency to be meaningless for me if they’re not on my terms, and praise and blame from others mean very little to me. There is nothing neurologically different with me; I’m simply brought up this way.”

Briefly, Inaho thought that maybe he lied to her since he put it so bluntly and concisely. His disorder was much more complex and dynamic than he made it out to be since he did put value in relationships with those he cared about. If he had been completely uninterested in other people, he would not have sacrificed his own life to save those who were dear to him. And recently – after the meeting with Slaine at Tanegashima – he had gotten interested in a stranger. Inaho was still uncertain why he was curious about the boy to the point he greedily pulled every detail about Slaine from the cursed princess. Then again, Inaho had been honest to Seylum since he spoke about his issue in the general way, and so he settled with that explanation.

In the corner of his eye, he noticed Asseylum was staring at him with bafflement. The cursed girl seemed confused.

“That sounds very lonely,” she said with sorrow. “I have been wondering why you show little emotion when you spend time with me, and I have noticed you behave similarly with other people as well. Do you dislike people?”

She was pretty straight forward with her questions, which was unusual for people to generally be toward him. Inaho was used to people pretending not to notice his different characteristics – mostly. Some people did not understand that he was different to them, which made them target him with less friendly comments and let him know he was not like them; as if he was less human than them. These kinds of people became less, though, the older Inaho got.

“No,” Inaho said and looked at her with his emotionless expression. “I don’t dislike people; not humans and not cursed creatures; I put no value in that. There is no meaning to dislike someone I don’t know, unless I’m given a reason to. I enjoy the few I have around me and simply don’t care about others, and I enjoy my solitude.”

Inaho had no expectations for her to understand what he was speaking about. How could she? She had probably been brought up under the criteria needed to build a healthy sense of self and person like most did. She seemed to fit well with the norm of social creatures due her kind approach to others; she was like normal people.

“That sounds sad,” the cursed princess said quietly. She looked at the brunet with furrowed brows, and Inaho could see on her expression she felt sorry for him.

“There is no need to pity me, Seylum,” he said. “I may not fall under your norm, but I’m comfortable like this.”

“I do not pity you, Inaho,” she answered him. “I find it sad you have been brought up like this. How cruel was the person responsible?”

“No grown up has been cruel,” Inaho said. “I grew up in an orphanage with my sister after my parents died in the war fifteen years ago. It was a large orphanage, and there were not enough grownups that could be kind or cruel toward me. It’s no one’s fault I am the way I am.”

“You were neglected?”

“Mostly,” Inaho answered honestly. “It could not be helped. Things like that cause disturbances in the critical moment when a child starts to develop what we call a personality. You could say my personality is broken, even if I don’t see it like that.”

‘ _Why am I telling her all this?_ ’ he thought surprised after he went quiet. It felt as if Seylum was invading him, and he had no way to push her away; his innermost self was becoming wide open for her to peek at.

“I have no such thoughts,” he heard the sad chirp say. “You are not broken in my eyes, Inaho. You are kind and caring, and even if you say relationships are a bother I think you and I have a solid relationship. It is new, but still solid.”

Inaho looked at her while feeling surprised. The reason he had told her was because he needed her to understand him since he had been assigned to take care of her – and because he wanted to listen to her speak about the human boy he had met on the island.

‘ _And because Slaine cares a lot about this girl…_ ’ he thought.

“Slaine has been through plenty of difficult things as well,” the cursed princess suddenly said and looked saddened. Inaho’s pulse quickened from the sheer mentioning of the blond boy’s name. Her hand rose up to her chest where the boy’s necklace hung. ”He never had a home as a child since he moved around a lot due to his father’s work, and the older he got the more neglected was he by his father, who became busy the closer he came to a scientific breakthrough about the curse. The poor boy was heartbreakingly lonely when I got to know him; he never dared to ask for anything and he wanted to suffer alone and most preferably keep his pain a secret. But then, he began opening up. The more time we spent together, the more he bloomed – even after his father’s passing – until he blossomed into a beautiful being.”

Her words sounded candid, as if they came straight from her heart; she cared about the human boy to the point he was more than simply important to her.

“Do you love him?” the brunet asked without hesitation and watched as a shocked look took form in the cursed princess’s eyes. “Does he mean a lot to you?”

Love was a strange thing for the brunet; he could not remember he had ever felt an emotion he could call “love”. Clearly, he did love those around him – otherwise he had not cared to save them – but the romantic love others spoke about was unknown to him. People said it was irrational, but how hard could it be to understand it, Inaho had thought? Love meant that someone was important to another. That was all there was to it, right? Despite the confusion, he asked the question since he knew the emotion was a common feeling for the people who fell into the norm; it would not be a surprise if the cursed princess loved the blond haired boy romantically.

“Yes…” she whispered with sorrow. “I love him as a very important person. With him, my life became enriched with wonders and broke the repetitive pattern to my life. The tales of astounding heroes and outrageous gods I had not even thought about existed, never ceased to bewilder me. The way he told them – with a gentle look in his eyes – made me never want him to stop.” The cursed princess folded her hands around the talisman and hugged it against her chest as if it were as precious to her as a child was to a mother. “I hope he is all right…”

That answer settled Inaho’s mind – made him decide:

‘ _If you love him_ ,’ he thought when he looked at Seylum’s saddened expression while thinking about her precious friend. ‘ _Then I will love him too. If he’s still alive, I will bring him to you so that he can continue telling you stories_.’

†††

A loud gasp echoed and then the boy was awake. He was wet from cold sweat after an unpleasant dream he could not remember, and he slowly opened his eyes to stare up at a softly illuminated ceiling. It was a ceiling he had not seen before and he closed his eyes to gather whatever was left of his mind to figure out where he was. Next to him, to his left, stood an infusion stand with a bag that contained a clear liquid, and it was attached to a port on the back of his hand by a small hose.

The mystery of his whereabouts quickly began to solve, however, when a voice somewhere at the end of the room said:

“I see you have woken up, boy.”

Slaine was startled by the unexpected voice, and fear crawled beneath his skin to the point where it nearly felt like real spiders. He wanted to move – to crawl away and hide from this unknown person – but his body was hurting enough he was nearly paralyzed. Instead, a husky whimper left his lips.

“Stay calm, boy,” he heard the male voice say soothingly. “Try to save your voice. Your vocal folds are hurt and you should not strain yourself.”

A man dressed in a burgundy coat, with dark but neatly combed hair and a stern look in his eyes – the look only a commander could have – came into Slaine’s view. The boy stared at the man, who was a cursed count, and his body heat disappeared and was replaced with a chill. Panic began to bubble up and Slaine’s already scattered mind became instantly chaotic. The flight mode was on; he wanted to run away from the cursed count; the count was dangerous; the count would kill him. Something was blocking him from taking action, however, and it was not his exhausted body. It felt as if he never came to the peak of his emotion, as if something was suppressing it and by that keeping him calmer than he normally would have been. His heart was still calmly beating away in his chest; his pulse had not quickened when he had been startled.

“Calm down,” the cursed count said yet again and stopped a couple of steps away from the bed. The man spoke softly, as if he knew Slaine’s distress was unbearable. “I know you must be terrified of me, but do know I am no threat to you. Aside from your pain, how are you feeling, Troyard?”

Slaine stared at him in silence without blinking. He could not look away since instincts told him to keep an eye on the threat that had suddenly appeared. There was nothing he could answer with either; he was focused on eyeing the cursed count so intently his mind could not form words at all. It was as if he had forgotten how to speak and form thoughts, and was therefore reduced into nothing but a mere existence. The man was someone he briefly knew but, because he was a cursed creature, Slaine could not calm down in his presence.

“I understand you are presently frightened of cursed creatures,” Saazbaum sighed. “I will leave you to calm down and, once you have found back to yourself, I shall return to speak to you.” Saazbaum turned toward a door that looked like the entrance of the room, and then said with an ordering tone: “Come in, blood sacrifice.”

The door opened and Slaine’s heart almost felt like it jumped in his chest, but it stayed calm. A young man, someone who seemed to be just slightly older than Slaine, walked into the room with silent steps as if he had mastered the art of silence. He had dark and short hair and a healthy glow to his skin.

“This young man will be your servant during your stay here, Troyard,” Saazbaum said, and Slaine looked up at the cursed count immediately the moment the cursed man spoke. “If you need anything, let him know and he shall assist you. I leave you in his care for a while, and I shall see you later. Rest easy – Slaine Troyard.”

The cursed count exited the room and left it occupied with only Slaine and the servant. Slaine had registered the young man standing in a bowed position was a blood sacrifice, but despite that he could neither calm down from intense nervousness nor understand that the young man was human.

The stress became unexpectedly heavy for the blond boy’s mind, and Slaine felt faint. The room spun around him, forced him to lose focus and vigilance, and he sighed heavily and battled against weighty eyelids. If he closed his eyes, he would not be able to see what happened in his surroundings. The young man introduced himself somewhere in the jumbling reality that threatened to disappear from Slaine’s grip, but the boy could not register his name. Before the blond boy had had time to understand what was going on, something warm covered his forehead and a shadow hovered above him. It was a warm touch; gentle and careful to not startle him.

“If you need to sleep some more, then please do so, young lord,” a soothing voice said, and a hand brushed through his hair. “I will guard you, so relax.”

‘ _Guard me?_ ’ Slaine thought hazily and took a deep breath to clear his mind. He forced his eyelids open to look at the shadow above him, and he saw kind and dark eyes look back at him.

“There is no need to be afraid, young lord. You are safe here,” the young man – whose name Slaine had not registered – continued soothingly.

Now that Slaine felt the young servant’s hand brush through his hair, he slowly realized it was a warm human hand touching him. It awoke a memory in his tired mind; a memory of another dark-haired human who also had given him a warm and gentle touch recently. It was a touch Slaine was hungry for; a touch he needed to be reminded gentleness still existed in the world. The young man accompanying him in the room gave him caress after caress – constantly brushing his hair with careful fingers to give the blond boy a sense of security. The touch calmed Slaine’s violent mind and he began to relax from the unpleasant nervousness from moments before.

“Do you need anything, young lord?” the young man asked. “Or do you need someone to hark to your worries or thoughts?”

Slaine slowly blinked to ease the ache in his eyes, and took a deep breath before focusing his sight on the young man who obscured the weak light from blinding the boy. No words came forth; still, Slaine had nothing to say. The disorientation and confusion muted him, but it appeared to not be a problem for the other. Instead, the young man decided to stay silent as well and lower his warm hand to the duvet covering Slaine’s chest, and carefully massaged the breastbone area. The touch soothed Slaine to the point he released a quiet sigh and relaxed entirely. He could clearly feel his breathing calm down, the stress of having someone unknown close disappeared, and – most importantly – the chaotic mind stilled. Slaine’s sense of self was slowly coming home.

†††

“Who is supplying you with blood?” Inaho asked Rayet the next day on his way to the canteen for lunch. He had met the cursed girl in the corridor carrying a towel and hygiene articles, probably on her way to the shower.

“Good day to you, too,” Rayet muttered. “The donators are anonymous, so I don’t know.”

The moment she spoke, Inaho got a feeling something was not right with her. He studied her carefully and noticed redness around her eyes. Rayet had been crying moments earlier, and was probably on her way to the shower to clear her mind and refresh her state of being. Inaho had to acknowledge showers were therapeutic for situations like that.

“You get enough?” the brunet continued, ignoring her remark about Inaho not greeting her properly.

“Yeah, a little more than I would need, but that’s simply to ensure I won’t get unexpectedly hungry,” the cursed girl answered.

“A starvation diet has never been successful,” Inaho said and nodded approvingly.

“What about you?” Rayet asked. “Are you all right after everything? I heard you take care of the cursed princess as punishment for keeping crucial information from the captain.”

“I wouldn’t call it a punishment,” the boy said with the typical monotone voice. “I feel fine.”

“What about your bite wounds?”

“They itch a little, but that’s probably because they are healing and not because of withdrawal symptoms,” Inaho answered honestly. The cursed girl’s eyes narrowed slightly, as if she hesitated about believing him or not.

Something was clearly off with the cursed girl. Inaho could not shake the feeling of Rayet grieving in silence, hidden from the view of others. The girl had lost her father a couple of days earlier; she had all the right to grieve, but grieving in silence was destructive.

“Good to hear,” she said and tilted her head as she stared at Inaho’s neck. The brunet got a sudden need to raise his hand to cover his neck and hide it from her view; he was not entirely safe with her staring at the spot cursed creatures enjoyed to bite. “Have you given her any blood?” the cursed girl then asked.

“You mean Seylum?” Inaho asked and saw Rayet nod with a stern look on her face. “No, I promised you I wouldn’t; my blood belongs to you still, since we haven’t delivered Seylum properly to the UN yet; she still needs protection even if the admiral of the fleet thinks this ship is protection enough.”

Rayet’s eyes widened with surprise and she stared at the human boy for a couple of seconds without knowing what to say. Had Rayet not planned on honoring their pact, Inaho wondered? Would she result to foul play? It worried him.

“You are still honoring it?” the girl asked and took a step toward Inaho. “Then prove it by giving me blood right now.”

Immediately, Inaho took a step back and pushed a palm against his neck to protect it.

“Aren’t you?” the boy asked as he began to feel the familiar fright of having fangs puncture his neck. “Will you continue protecting the princess like we agreed on?”

Rayet walked closer, which forced Inaho to back away and bump against the bulkhead behind him. The boy was afraid the vampire would take blood from him forcefully now that she behaved threateningly. If she wanted to simply scare him, she certainly succeeded when she slammed a hand against the bulkhead behind Inaho, right next to his cheek.

“There is no need for me to honor our pact anymore,” she said ominously. “I get blood from others now, so share yours with your precious princess if you wish. I don’t care anymore. I won’t protect her any longer; all I will worry about is to avenge my father and get rid of the cursed, one by one until I go down myself.”

They stared at each other for a while, trying to read the other; Rayet probably tried to find either anger or fright in Inaho’s emotionless expression, while Inaho tried to read how sincere the cursed girl was. She was dangerously sincere he concluded; she had decided to follow the path her hate lured her to. What she saw in Inaho’s face, the boy could not tell; she backed away without another word and continued walking down the corridor to head for the showers.

When she disappeared behind a corner, the brunet took a deep breath to calm down. Inaho had been afraid of her; the trauma from being attacked twice had rooted in him, and she knew this. It was impossible to trust the girl from now on and Inaho would not leave her alone with Seylum.

When Inaho entered the canteen he greeted his sister and Calm, who had already begun eating together next to two lively tables of crewmembers. The atmosphere was cheerful in the canteen, like it always was around a food source; people generally never seemed to feel down when food was close by, which told Inaho the crew was healthy in general. After getting his portion of food – which consisted of breaded fish, potatoes and lemon sauce, along with vegetables – Inaho steered his way to his sister and friend, and was greeted with cheerful expressions.

“Oh? The princess isn’t with you?” Calm asked somewhat disappointed. The boy had at first been grumpy the moment the cursed princess had been brought up and clearly disapproved her presence on board the ship but, once he had met her personally, he had been starstruck and taken a liking to her.

“I left her with Nina,” Inaho said and sat down opposite of his sister, next to Calm. “They wanted to play around with clothes and makeup, so I decided to leave them to it.”

Yuki chuckled and pointed at Inaho with her fork while a cheeky smile played on her lips, and said teasingly:

“What a gentleman. I think you’re really, really interested in her,” she grinned. “Is my little brother perhaps in love with the princess?”

“W-what!?” Calm exclaimed and looked between the Kaizuka siblings with shock. “Woah, dude!”

“I’m not,” Inaho said frankly, and Calm looked at the older one of the Kaizukas.

“Yeah! Inaho’s always a cold fish; I’ve never seen him smile. Not even once!” he argued.

“Really?” Inaho asked as he was taken aback from Calm’s bluntness, and Yuki laughed:

“Oooh! I have heard and seen how intently my little brother listens to the pretty princess’s singsong voice. It’s like he’s on cloud nine all the time! I must admit I’m a little disappointed in you taking a liking to a vampire of all things, Inaho, but I guess marrying a royal isn’t half bad either,” the older sister said teasingly.

“You’re incorrect. We were talking about Slai-“ Inaho began to explain when a sudden crash was heard behind him, and everyone around the tables close by jumped and looked at an embarrassed girl who stared at Inaho with utter shock.

“W-w-what!?” Inko exclaimed. “Is it true!?”

“It sure is!” Yuki said excitedly and continued with a teasing voice as she reached for Inaho’s cheeks with intruding hands: “My baby brother is becoming an adult!”

“I-Inaho – since w-w-when!?” Inko asked stammering when Yuki grabbed a hold of Inaho’s cheeks to pinch them the way he imagined an annoying aunt would. Suddenly the brunet was grateful he had no aunt who did that regularly; to be pinched like that was uncomfortable.

Inaho had trouble understanding what was going on. Why was Yuki so quick to jump to conclusions? Why was Calm thinking Inaho was a cold fish? Why was Inko shocked?

‘ _Stop thinking you can read my mind, Yuki-nee_ ,’ he thought. ‘ _And I should stop caring about it_.’

“You’re all being ridiculous,” Inaho said when his sister let go of his cheeks, but Yuki had no plans on giving up:

“Nu-uh! Don’t think you can slip away so easily,” she teased. “Yesterday, you were completely immersed when she spoke about Hercules-“

“Heracles,” Inaho corrected her, and Yuki’s smile faded as she went silent for a short moment from losing her trail of thought due to Inaho interrupting her. “The Romans called him Hercules, but the Greeks called him Heracles.”

“Uh… Heracles, sure,” she mumbled before she got back the excited grin on her lips again, and continued: “Anyway! You’re so immersed in the mythological stories she tells. It’s like you never want her to stop!”

“You like mythological s-stories?” Inko asked and looked at Inaho with sincere hopelessness. “I can tell you stories from Japanese myths!”

“I already know a lot of them; we went to the same literature class, remember?” Inaho said, and Inko got a downhearted look in her eyes. Her reaction was a mystery for the brunet. Inaho then turned to look at his sister. “Also, I know most of the ancient Greek myths already, since I read about them in the library back in Shinawara. I simply like to listen to Seylum telling them because the words she uses belong to someone who was passionate about them.”

‘ _And hopefully still is_ ,’ Inaho thought. ‘ _Slaine – are you still alive?_ ’

“Oh? Did you drop your tray, Inko?” Inaho suddenly heard Nina say.

When the brunet met the sight of Nina standing next to Inko with a curious expression on her pretty face, he had expected to see Seylum with her. There was no cursed princess in the canteen, and Nina was dressed in the luxurious clothes Seylum had worn, with a satisfied blush on her cheeks.

“Woah! Did you rob the princess, Nina!?” Calm exclaimed shocked and stared at the girl who wore the beautiful and expensive looking clothes; they were probably of one of the famous luxury brands people lusted for to ridiculous degrees according to the brunet.

‘ _They’ll break eventually, just like cheaper clothes_ ,’ he had always thought.

“No, I didn’t!” Nina shrieked back with a childish tone. “I borrowed them. Bor-row-ed! Her Highness lets me use her clothes while she borrows my school uniform.” The girl twirled, and the clothes fluttered in the air. “The skirt and sweater is Chanel, and the cape is Versace! I wish I could keep them; they feel great!”

“Where is the princess?” Inaho asked somewhat urgently.

“She said she wanted to take a shower,” Nina explained. “I showed her to the functioning showers in the ladies’ dressing room.”

Inaho’s heart skipped a beat from worry. There were only two set of shower rooms functional on board the Deucalion; one for the male crew and the other for the female crew. It had appeared the plumbing had not been properly finished either after the ship had been abandoned. The only functional shower rooms had probably been finished simply to let the previous construction crew shower when needed. This also meant there were two vampires in the same shower room, and one of them had sworn to kill her own kind and saw the other as an enemy.

Inaho hurried up from his seat and dashed out into the corridor to run toward the showers. Rayet had clearly stated many times she saw cursed creatures as enemies and she would not protect Seylum anymore. The cursed girl’s words from the moment they formed the pact in the stairway on board Wadatsumi came back to Inaho, and her abnormal behavior from earlier made Inaho feel uneasy about leaving her alone with Seylum.

“Kaizuka!” a child’s voice yelled in the corridor. Inaho saw the cursed princess’s handmaiden – Eddelrittuo – come running down the corridor with tears in her eyes. “The princess-! She-!”

“Is she in the showers?” Inaho asked urgently, and the little girl followed him. Eddelrittuo nodded.

“The other cursed girl…! She attacked her!” the handmaiden cried. “I went to find a towel since I forgot about it, and when I came back, the princess-!”

“Bring help,” Inaho interrupted the girl. “I’ll hurry to the showers, but I need help to handle Rayet. Find the captain and let her know what is going on. I’ll stall Rayet until help arrives.”

†††

A pitiful scream echoed in the tiled shower. Water splashed everywhere and the shower curtain was ripped down from the fasteners in the ceiling.

“Calm down, young lord. I mean not to hurt you, so please…!” the servant desperately said and hurried to grab the flailing shower head after it had been knocked out of his hands.

Slaine pulled the shower curtain close to hide behind it and curled up in a corner while warm water washed over him. He trembled like a leaf in autumn wind and protected his naked body from the manservant washing him with gentle care. He was terrified of being naked. He was terrified of the water. He was terrified of being touched.

The servant carefully reached for the shower curtain, but Slaine held onto it tightly. Water dripped from the young man’s dark hair. The navy blue uniform was soaked after Slaine had resisted him. Now, the human boy was exhausted and he succumbed to the pitiful state he found himself in while cowering in the corner of the shower, hiding behind the shower curtain.

“Young lord…” the servant said quietly with pity. “Let go of the curtain. The sooner I get to wash you the sooner you can return to the bed.”

Slaine breathed with shivering breaths and hid his face from the servant, and cried. He felt how something carefully began pulling the shower curtain away. Since the boy dared not to resist any more, he let go of it, and it was removed from the shower.

Watertight adhesives covered ghastly wounds that had been ripped open during the torture in the dark room on Tharsis. The wounds were spread out over Slaine’s entire body; on all sides of his torso, on the arms and on the legs. It made it difficult to move since the wounds ached the moment they were twisted or morphed as the muscles flexed according to Slaine’s commands. They had not been stitched since they had been too old once Saazbaum had saved the human boy; the risk of infection was impending if the wounds were stitched. Most of them had been infected and inflamed, which gave Slaine a fever. The boy was treated with antibiotics to help his body fight off harmful bacteria, so that the wounds could heal properly.

Slaine had learned he had been tortured for three days, which told him nothing of the time he felt like he had spent in the dark room. For Slaine, those three days had felt like a lifetime, and he had been reduced into a pitiful creature that could only cry and scream the moment a situation became frightening. Saazbaum had not been back since Slaine had woken up, and the servant had desperately tried to explain to the boy what condition he was in. Apparently, something was wrong with Slaine’s heart that also needed medication, but the boy had not been able to comprehend more than that at the time he had been informed about his condition.

The warm water soothed the boy as it washed down his back and torso, warmed his skin and pampered his soul, but the horrors from Cruhteo’s torture had brandished his mind with associations of terror. Slaine was convinced the moment he relaxed things would escalate and become painful; he had to constantly be on high alert to protect himself. This resulted in a chaotic mindset; he could not tell up from down and he could not understand the kind words that were spoken to him, and he barely understood what a touch was. His inner compass was destroyed; everything was a threat.

“Young lord – please, calm down and let me wash you,” the servant said gently and reached for the boy’s blond hair to let water wash through it, but Slaine resulted in screaming and pushing his exhausted body against the corner where he cowered. He pushed so hard against the wall his hands and feet slipped against the tiled floor, which made him panic more due to the loss of control and stability. “Be careful, young lord; you might hurt yourself,” the servant continued. “Calm down; you have to be careful with your heart.”

Slaine kept on protesting against the warm water and the gentle touch by trying to avoid them, behaving like a wild and frightened animal that understood nothing of what was going on. The open wounds hurt and so did the sore muscles, but Slaine could not reason with his fear and calm down to spare his frightened self from the pain.

Every time water washed through his hair he screamed; he was thrown back to the moment where he had been tortured by having his head forced beneath the surface of cold water. It petrified him entirely; he went stiff and all he could do was scream. The same thing happened when the servant’s gentle fingers massaged shampoo into his hair; the touch was blowing Slaine’s mind into pieces, making him fear the fingers would grab his hair and force him to experience a simulated drown. He screamed and screamed since that was all he could do.

The servant had great patience. Despite Slaine’s fear, the young man kept washing him cautiously, waiting for Slaine to finish panicking and was as careful with the boy a human could be. To be allowed to wash the boy’s hair, the young man would slowly reach his hand closer, and each time the boy showed signs of panicking the young man would freeze and wait it out, until Slaine was calm enough the servant dared to close the gap between them.

After a long time had passed – Slaine could not make out how long he had been struggling and screaming – the boy’s body had been exhausted enough he became wilted and silent. Slaine slumped against the corner like a withered flower, his arms limply holding his torso with knees pulled up against his chest, hiding his face from the young man washing him.

“It is all right, young lord. Take it easy,” the servant said quietly and carefully scrubbed a lathering sponge over Slaine’s shoulder. “Does it hurt anywhere particular?”

Slaine’s mind slowly returned to him now that he was exhausted. He collected its shards like pieces of a broken mirror, slowly putting it together to find the reflection of who he was. It made him strong enough to look up at the young man and study him. As water poured down his shoulder, Slaine stiffened just slightly before relaxing again, and then looked at the young man a second time from the wet bangs hanging before his eyes. Now that the boy thought about it with a clearer mind, the servant seemed very kind.

“It … hurts a little…” Slaine mumbled with a broken voice. His frightened screams form the torture and now had torn the inside of his throat, making it hurt when he spoke.

The servant looked at him with surprise since he had grown used to the boy only scream and gasp as answers, but then he smiled. It was a vividly warm smile.

“Do you need more medication for the pain?” the servant asked, but Slaine shook his head. “I understand, young lord. Thank you for answering.”

Slaine curled up into a ball in the corner and sighed heavily from exhaustion while he let the servant wash him in silence. The adhesives protecting the wounds pulled at his skin, but the boy did not care. He was numbed by the medication enough to make the uncomfortable sensation bearable.

When the servant had finished, Slaine listened to his steps as the young man walked around in the shower room, and within moments a small splash in the shower water on the floor made Slaine look up – just in time to see a white and soft bath towel be wrapped around him. It had been warmed by the towel warmer on which it has been hanging, and it was cloud soft.

“Would you kindly get up, young lord, so that I can dry you? I will blow-dry your hair as well,” the servant said, and Slaine slowly forced his tired body up from the corner of the shower and was steadied by the young man’s arms. “Thank you.”

Slaine faced the wall to find support from it when the servant dried his skin ever so gently. The servant was sure to let Slaine know everything he was to do in order to give the boy a chance to relax, and it helped to keep Slaine’s mind calm. Every time a hand would touch the boy, the servant let him know in advance before he would continue drying him.

The worn out boy waited patiently and, once a new and dry bath towel was wrapped around him, he was shown to a chair. There the servant dried his hair with a hairdryer, slowly moving the softly blowing dryer around the boy’s head while a brush carefully pulled through the silky strands. It felt comforting, especially since it was a human who did it. Slaine was hungry – starving even – for human touch and he wanted it to be gentle, just like the servant’s fingers.

“Are you hungry, young lord? You have not eaten anything ever since you woke up, and the IV therapy cannot have been sufficient for you,” the servant asked.

Slaine was not hungry. His hunger always shut down the moment he was in a stressful situation, but he guessed he needed to fill his stomach with something.

“Fruit,” Slaine mumbled with the husky voice.

The servant seemed glad the boy wanted something to eat; it was as if the young man was sincerely worried about Slaine’s wellbeing. That alone made the tired boy feel better, since it meant someone acknowledged his pain. That was all he needed and asked for; someone to see and understand what he felt in body and soul. Everything else did not matter.

When Slaine had been dressed in a white short sleeved shirt and matching shorts, and a warming bathrobe had been draped around his shoulders, he buried his feet in comfortable slippers and followed the servant out of the bathroom. He was shown to the bed, where the watertight adhesives were removed and his wounds were cleaned and redressed. Then he got to lie down and the boy immediately curled up in the large and soft bed. The servant tucked him in and briefly left the room to bring Slaine something to eat and, while the boy was alone in the room, he took a deep breath and chewed on his bottom lip.

‘ _What happened?_ ’ he thought and frowned heavily. The memories of the dark room were messy and were impossible to place in chronological order. Flashes of pain and anxiety pulsated irregularly in his mind like lightning, as if an unpleasant thunderstorm swept through his brain with each unpleasant memory that resurfaced. ‘ _Where’s Cruhteo?_ ’

The boy was too tired to find answers to his questions, since right now he was too exhausted to do anything. He buried his face against the pillow and winced; both cheeks were swollen from abuse, and he searched for a comfortable position until he found one that felt good enough; he lay on his side, with his back against the door to the room. It felt good to lie in a proper bed; it was softer than the one he had had in his cabin back on Tharsis, and a pleasant shiver ran through the tired but pleased young body.

It did not take long before the servant arrived with a slightly rattling serving cart. The boy tensed up immediately and held his breath while listening to the servant walk up to the bed. A porcelain plate clattered and a soft thud was heard, as if someone had sit down in the armchair standing next to the bedside table. A knife cut through soft material and, when Slaine dared to turn his head to look what was going on, he saw the servant skillfully cut a red apple into wedges.

“I thought you were asleep, young lord,” the servant said softly and finished cutting the apple into pieces. Then he cut away the core of the apple wedges and kept tinkering with one of the pieces. “I was unsure of what kind of fruits you wanted, and I took the liberty to bring other kinds of food as well just in case,” the servant continued, and then held out the apple piece for Slaine on a small porcelain plate. “I believe this should look appetizing.” The apple piece looked like a small rabbit, something parents would do to their children.

Slaine looked at the small apple piece and then at the smiling servant, debating silently with himself if he should give in and eat or simply refuse the piece – but since the servant had gone through the trouble of kindly preparing the apple, and Slaine feeling hunger waking up, he carefully got up from the softness of the bed.

“T-thank you,” the boy mumbled and took the apple rabbit from the porcelain plate. He watched as the servant continued preparing the second wedge while the boy nibbled on the apple piece. The sweet taste spread across his tongue and made his mouth water immediately, and a loud grumble was heard from his stomach.

The servant looked up surprised.

“It was a good thing I brought more food with me,” he said with a friendly smile and got up from where he sat to walk over to the serving cart, which had been stacked with different fruits, breads and beverages. “What do you want to eat, young lord?”

For the first time in a long while, Slaine got to eat a sandwich with lots of butter, ham and cheese, and have a cup of coffee and milk to wash it down. During his time in Cruhteo’s care, he had only been allowed to eat a strict diet. Nothing that affected the taste of his blood negatively had been on the list of things to eat – greasy food and coffee being only two of these forbidden foods and beverages. His eating habits had been more about what he ate rather than how good it tasted and, when the boy finally took a small bite of the sandwich the servant had made, he got tears in his eyes. Suddenly he felt hungrier than he could ever remember he had been in his life, and a timid joy closely followed as he was told there was no limit to what and how much he were allowed to eat.

†††

The running steps echoed in the corridors as the nearly panicking boy was running toward the women’s shower. It was impossible to know what sight would be expected when he arrived, and his chest felt heavy with angst. Inaho ran as fast as he could, praying Rayet had not murdered Seylum, but the gut feeling his sister had recommended for him back when the war had started told him the princess was in great danger. The cursed handmaiden’s expression had told him the situation Inaho was to greet within moments was probably horrifying.

When he got to the door, there was no hesitation in him opening it. He flung the door open and saw at first nothing unusual. The room was silent and steam of warm water drifted from one of the shower stalls while the sound of running water reached the brunet’s ears.

“Seylum?” he asked but got no answer. “Rayet?” No answer.

The silence made him uneasy; if the woman showering was all right, she would have told Inaho to leave the shower room. This made the boy walk closer to the shower stall that was in use, and when he got a couple of steps closer to it he caught the sight of something red slipping through the grate for the chute for wastewater right outside the stall.

‘ _Blood!_ ’

Inaho hurried the remaining steps and arrived in front of the stall, and greeted the sight of blood and flesh that had been torn open with the curtain-rod to the shower stall; the cursed princess was stabbed through her stomach and leaned with her back against the wall with trembling legs, fighting to keep herself upright. The tiles behind her had been broken by the iron rod that had collided into them, and shards lay on the floor, cutting Seylum’s feet. Rayet was nowhere to be seen.

“Seylum!” Inaho exclaimed and hurried up to the cursed princess. Immediately, he took a hold of the rod. “I’ll pull it out,” he warned the cursed girl, who looked at him with dazed eyes and slowly nodded without a word slipping from between her lips; she was in shock.

Inaho turned the girl around to have her steady herself against the wall with her arms, and then took a hold of the rod with both hands. The heart was beating wildly in the boy’s chest, making him feel anxious as he forcefully began to pull the iron rod out and free the cursed princess from the object and have her body begin the regeneration process. The cursed princess released a loud scream, crying from pain as the rod was slowly taken out. It made Inaho feel sick; her scream was conveying her fright to him, letting him know she felt hopelessly vulnerable. Again, the brunet felt as if he was invaded by another person; something he was not used to.

“Careful,” the brunet said the moment he freed her and she stumbled. Inaho took a hold of her naked shoulders to pull her to his chest, holding her steady as she staggered from shock on the sharp shards. When his arms wrapped around her he noticed her naked body was still warm from the heat of the shower water, but she would begin to cool the more she bled and cause her more pain. “You need blood to heal,” Inaho then said and stepped beneath the warm water with her securely in his arms, to keep her warm. The water soaked him thoroughly.

The brunet had no expectations of the arriving help carrying blood with them, but he dared not to give the cursed princess blood himself. He was too afraid of the bite and addiction; the trauma from previous bites had cut deep. Despite that, he felt enough pity toward the trembling frame – born from the painful gasps and cries from between her beautiful lips – that he wanted to be reckless and offer her his blood simply to silence the sounds that pained him. Inaho had difficulties of deciding what to do. Were her cries making him want to care enough about her to face his trauma and give her blood, or were her cries simply annoying him with unpleasant emotions?

The answer was obscured by complicated emotions. He had given her blood; kept her alive with something his own body created to keep him alive. That alone made him feel connected to her – made him want to care. He briefly wondered about what Slaine would do, and his answer was as clear as daylight.

‘ _But I’m not brave enough, unlike you_ ,’ the brunet thought and saw an image of the silver crowned boy the moment he closed his eyes. ‘ _She will survive anyway; she’s a cursed creature and won’t die from a wound like this_ ,’ Inaho thought and decided to give her as much comfort he possibly could. His reasons for doing so did not matter.

“I-In-aho…” Seylum gasped and took a hold of his shirt with trembling hands.

“It’s all right, Seylum,” Inaho said calmingly and tightened his arms around her, just slightly, to remind her she was safe. He realized he had been spacing out and for a moment forgotten about the princess. “Help will arrive soon,” he whispered while feeling ashamed of his clumsy mind.

The cursed girl bravely pressed her lips together and tried to control her trembling body and voice. At times she whimpered, but mostly she stayed silent, not bothered to breathe.

After a while, sharp and hurrying steps echoed in the shower room, closely followed by light childlike taps. It was the captain and Eddelrittuo, and they emerged in front of the shower stall where Inaho held the cursed princess. Their eyes widened with horror at the sight, and Inaho understood it was a gruesome scene: Blood from a gaping hole flowed down the naked and pale skin of a royal, wetted an embracing boy’s clothes and washed down the drain along with the warm water that soaked the two beings. Inaho could only imagine how they saw him and the princess.

“Her Highness!” Eddelrittuo cried out and covered her small mouth with tiny hands.

“How is she?” the captain asked when the handmaidens cry awoke her from shock. “We need to take her to the sickbay immediately.”

“She’s in pain,” Inaho said. “We need a stretcher; she shouldn’t walk like this.”

The captain spoke into the radio and ordered someone to bring a stretcher to the shower room and, in the meantime, Seylum was lowered onto the floor and covered with a towel to respect her integrity, and the brunet turned the shower off.

“Ina-ho…” she said trembling and looked at him as he raised her head to put a rolled up towel beneath it, to make the floor less uncomfortable for her. “She…” she chirped painfully. “… attacked – me…”

“Who?” Inaho asked even though he knew the answer.

“S-she,” Seylum said and raised a hand to point at something behind the captain.

Everything went so fast that it was impossible for Inaho to understand what was happening until it had already happened: The captain had been pulled away incredibly fast, and then pushed against the floor with a hand over her throat, clutching around her windpipe. Inaho stared at Rayet – who was dressed in nothing but a towel wrapped around her – and she glared at Inaho, Eddelrittuo and Seylum. Steps that came down the corridor distressed the cursed girl, and the captain gasped as the fingers holding her windpipe tightened.

“We got a stretch-“ Inaho heard his sister say hurriedly and watched as she, Dr. Yagarai and Lieutenant Marito were about to step into the shower room.

“Nobody move, or your captain will die here!” Rayet said loudly, nearly growling like a wild animal.

Everyone froze and stared at her and the captain with shock. A tense silence swept through the crowd where no one knew what to do to handle this situation. Not even the captain was capable to do anything; she had a terrified look in her eyes the entire time as she watched Rayet.

‘ _We humans will always be inferior to the vampires_ ,’ Inaho thought trouble as he could not come up with a plan. ‘ _Without strength to match them, we’ll always be the hunted_.’ At the same time, the humans could not lie down and die at the feet of the cursed creatures simply because their situation felt overwhelming; they had to fight. ‘ _So, how do I fight now?_ ’

“W-why?” Inaho heard the cursed princess suddenly whimper in his arms. “Why are you – doing this?”

Seylum’s gentle but sorrowful voice reached the red haired girl, who glared back with intensity in her eyes.

“My father,” the girl began angrily, and continued with a slightly more hushed voice: “He was a spy to the Versian nobles, who promised him status and riches – to never starve again – for committing a crime that wasn’t heard of before; to kill the Versian princess during the Shinawara parade.”

Inaho turned a peering eye toward the cursed princess to watch her reaction. There was no shock in her expression – she was rather saddened but understanding. There was no doubt she had been expecting to hear the truth sooner or later, and what she heard did not surprise her at all.

“Y-your … father-“ the cursed princess began, but was briskly interrupted by Rayet – as if the cursed girl had no interest to hear what the cursed princess had to say:

“Then he and his men were slaughtered!” she yelled. “They were murdered by the nobles who promised them they would never starve again, only to eliminate all witnesses! I was supposed to be murdered back then, too, but I was saved by a blood sacrifice. What for, I wonder!? I don’t belong with the humans, and I can’t go back to Vers. I have no home and it’s all because of you!”

‘ _She once said the blood sacrifice who saved her was the one we saw back in Shinawara. In other words, it was Slaine_ ,’ Inaho thought as he remembered the silver crowned boy. The reminder served to straighten the brunet’s resolve even further; Slaine was a good person – nothing could make Inaho doubt it. ‘ _It’s as Seylum said_ ,’ he thought. ‘ _He carries warmth and genuine thoughtfulness with him_.’

“I-“ Seylum tried again, but the other cursed girl interrupted her a second time.

“Everything – the death of my father, this war, betrayal and my loneliness – is all because of you! Why won’t they hate you? Why did the humans accept you – or even nursed you and allowed you to live!? You’re the reason to all of this hellfire and yet you have the guts to be happy!”

The captain gasped as Rayet’s fingers tightened around her windpipe even more, and her face went crimson from the near suffocation. Inaho had to do something quickly or their captain would die; the cursed girl was clearly not aware of her strength in this tense situation.

“What you say … is probably true,” the cursed princess gasped and forced herself up from the floor. Inaho watched her struggle without aiding her; this was something she had to do alone. If he would support her, it would seem as if she was protected by him – and a royal was always to seem capable and strong. Right now, that was what Rayet had to see. “I carry the … responsibility to your misery. I- I was a fool…”

The cursed princess got up from the floor and stood on all four to let her body adjust to the pain before she continued. Rayet glared at her, not understanding what was going on but still interested to this time listen to the cursed princess who showed the other her strength.

“Princess!” Eddelrittuo exclaimed with the childlike voice she would never grow up from, and she was about to dash to help Seylum hide her body with the towel that had covered her; it had now fallen off of her and the gaping hole looked gruesome to the naked eye.

“Wait,” Inaho said quietly and held the cursed handmaiden back. As she looked up at him, he shook his head slowly.

‘ _She needs to do this alone_ ,’ the brunet tried to tell her. Somehow, the little cursed girl seemed to understand that Inaho’s reason to stop her from aiding her princess was important, and she stepped back with a worrying look.

“I wished … for peace,” the cursed princess continued and took a hold of the towel lying in her lap with trembling hands. She pulled it up to cover her chest, but that was as much as she bothered to care about her nakedness. “For once, I wanted to do the- the right thing, but in the end … it turned out to be yet another of- my naïve whims…”

With incredible strength to fight away the pain, the cursed princess got up on unsteady legs. The blood from her wound began to pour down her marble colored body, slowly covering her hips and legs with great contrast and leaving a red trail behind her.

 “I brought nothing but misery to both of our worlds. I brought it to you… To your father…” she said and walked closer to the cursed girl, who began to look more and more confused. “I know I deserve not to ask for your forgiveness…” she continued. “But…” She sunk down on her knees the moment she was just steps away from the cursed girl and the captain. “But forgive me…”

Inaho watched the scene play out; Rayet was completely focused on the cursed princess. She stared at her as if Seylum would rise again in the form of a ghost; there was fear in the cursed girl’s eyes.

“Why…?” the red haired Rayet asked with a trembling voice. Then it regained power as she screamed: “Why do you say things like that to the one who wants to see you dead!? I want to kill you! My father wanted to kill you! Why don’t you hate me!?”

There was frustration in the angry girl’s voice and expression. Inaho thought of it to be something born from the aggravation of not getting a legitimate reason to kill the cursed princess; Rayet had no wish to kill her; she wanted Seylum to give her a reason to do so, otherwise it would be impossible for her. It was the only way for the cursed girl to ease her sense of victimization.

At hearing those words, the princess bowed – gritting through the pain from her wounded body moving as her head lowered and touched the floor. The blood slowly pooled around her, but she stayed in the position while Rayet stared at her with inability to take in what was happening. After a short moment, the girl finally let go of the captain and stood up. Quickly, the captain crawled away from her while coughing, and Inaho saw Yuki and Marito raise guns toward the confused curse girl.

“What am I even doing here?” Rayet mumbled with a sorrowful smile and turned toward the officers and doctor in the door opening.

‘ _She will force them to kill her!_ ’ Inaho thought as he realized the cursed girl’s intention. With urgency making him move, he dashed toward her.

Just as Rayet was about to attack Yuki, Marito and Yagarai, he hurried to step in between them, putting his hands against her naked shoulders and pushing her back. She would have no trouble forcing Inaho out of her way, but the boy’s intentions were not to stop her from committing suicide in such an outrageous way; he asked her to refrain from doing it.

“You can go berserk here if you want; we can’t stop you,” Inaho said and looked at her while she stared back at him with shock and perplexity. “Seylum will fix this war; we all will make sure to make her succeed. If you stop our mission, thousands – if not millions – of people will die, and they all have others who will miss them the way you miss your father.” Rayet could only stare at him. His words picked at her undead heart. “You have fought on our side this far and you hate our enemies, who also probably still wants to kill you. Besides, I honestly put no value in whether you’re a cursed or a human; I’m sure there are people who will miss you when you die; think about them before you end your life.”

Rayet got tears in her eyes, but kept staring at the brunet without blinking the drops away. She whimpered:

“W-who? Who will miss me…? There is no one.”

Inaho let go of her shoulders and carefully took her right hand and put it on her chest to hold the towel in place; it had begun to fall open.

“I would say it’ll be quite lonely here without you,” the brunet said softly and released her. “Do I need more reasons than the ones I have given you?”

Inaho was not sure if he told the truth or lied. Recently, his emotions concerning other people had been fluctuating violently from cold to hot and then back again. Somewhere – despite he was afraid of her – he did feel he had told her the truth; that he would miss her.

‘ _I have shared my blood with you_ ,’ he thought and looked at her violet eyes. The dawn of something new came over him; he had discovered something: ‘ _No matter how I look at it, we’ve been far more intimate than humans can be with other humans; I’ve given you life with offering my own body to you. That is a bond only a human and a cursed creature can have_.’

Maybe it was something he felt for the cursed princess as well? Aside from a mother giving birth to a child, there were no other deep bonds between humans that were even closely similar. Maybe that was the reason he had become invested in Seylum, too; not simply because she knew Slaine, but because he had shared an intimate and unintentionally bonding moment with her back in Shinawara when she had been crushed by debris? Additionally, was that the reason Rayet had protected him as her blood sacrifice, and even ended up feeling jealous of him sharing blood with the cursed princess; because drinking a human’s blood was intimate for her? It had nothing to do with love, however; it felt very different to what he would call romantic love. The intimacy was simply there, lingering in his heart and mind as if telling him he should stop building a wall of disinterest toward others around himself since he understood he felt good about the bonds he had created.

‘ _If it’s intimate with a human sharing their blood with a cursed creature, how warped has Slaine become of being forced to be intimate like that?_ ’ the brunet thought and watched as Rayet began to cry out loud, probably out of shock that someone cared about her. Inaho made a silent and bold statement, which felt true in his heart if he thought of what it meant to offer one’s blood to a cursed creature: ‘ _To have one’s blood taken forcefully like that is something similar to rape…_ ’

Again, he realized he was thinking about someone else than the one he had in front of his eyes:

‘ _Are you still alive, Slaine?_ ’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Autism Spectrum Disorder and Schizoid Personality Disorder](https://climbingthecindercone.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/austism-spectrum-schizoid-spectrum-edited_page_2.jpg?w=602) (Keep in mind this is a VERY simplified model).
> 
> A heads up: I usually post on Thursdays or Fridays, depending on how my weekends look like. Next week, however, the 14th chapter _**may**_ be slightly delayed due to a tight schedule (it's the last week of my university). After that, the update schedule will return to normal again. :3 (I can't keep my hands away from writing...!) I hope you enjoyed this chap!


	14. Tales of Reminiscence & Before the War 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little late, but here it is! The update schedule will hopefully return to normal now.

“Good morning, young lord,” he heard the soft voice of the servant – whom he had grown accustomed to – say somewhere far away. “I have brought you breakfast.”

Slaine awoke with a jerk and took a deep breath as he opened his eyes. He watched the servant lift the silver cloches covering the trays with food. It was the second morning the servant did this, and it was the second morning Slaine was about to drift back to sleep; the ship was rocking gently back and forth, making the motion relaxing and sleep inducing. It was the second morning the servant had to wake him up a second time, and the sleepy boy finally sat up in bed and tried to bite back a yawn – and failed.

“Did you sleep well, young lord?” the dark-haired young man asked and poured some orange juice and milk into different glasses; he had observed Slaine liked milk a lot and had asked the boy if he possibly came from a northern European country, where milk was a common beverage. The servant had been correct.

“Yes,” Slaine mumbled, still timid and nervous of his surroundings, but calm enough he dared to speak – though, he spoke with as little words as possible; his confidence had suffered a blow after the torture.

The moment he had seen how he looked like in the bathroom mirror, he had not been able to understand what he saw. A broken child had stared back at him, with ugly bruises in his face and horrible gashes scattered all over his body. Due to his inner compass being confused, he had been wondering how someone could do something as horrible to another being as what Cruhteo had done to him, and he even wondered if he deserved it. He had had no idea what had been up and down, left or right, in and out; his worldview had been crushed entirely. The whys and ifs had bothered him all day yesterday, and today he felt hung-over from yesterday’s exhausting and unvoiced thoughts.

“You must still be quite exhausted, young lord,” the servant continued with a gentle tone. Slaine had – in turn – been observing the servant’s behavior, and noticed he was pedagogical and had some kind of behavioral therapy approach; he always let Slaine know what was going on and he confirmed the boy’s suffering and tried to enforce Slaine’s positive behavior by giving him subtle encouraging comments and praise whenever the boy opened up speech or body language. “Here is your medication,” the young man then continued and gave Slaine the medication he had been prescribed by a doctor he had not seen yet.

Slaine took the small cup with the pills and absentmindedly scratched the left side of his neck as it had begun to itch. He knew why, but since the symptoms of withdrawal from the cursed venom had not gotten too bad yet, he somehow managed to ignore the distress of them itching.

Now that Slaine had calmed down enough he could take in information, the dark-haired servant had tried to explain Slaine’s heart condition a second time. This time, Slaine understood a doctor had taken care of him the moment he had been taken to Saazbaum’s ship V.E.S. Dioscuria, and diagnosed him. It turned out the chest pain Slaine had felt in the torture chamber right before he had fainted, had been caused by something called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This meant the heart muscle in the left ventricle was thicker on Slaine than it normally should be. This created functional impairment in the heart muscle and this, in turn, could give unpleasant symptoms or death if it was severe enough. In Slaine’s case, he had a mild form of this heart disease, which the boy considered lucky.

An important question had awoken in Slaine’s mind at learning about the heart condition: Had he always had the symptoms? It was difficult for him to make out what had been symptoms of the heart disease and what had been the consequences of living under the horrible conditions that had ruled his life for two years. All the horror and terror of being a blood sacrifice without rights had given him heartache and chest pains so many times they had been a rule rather than exceptions, but he had thought of the pains as symptoms of anxiety and fear. How his emotional life had felt like before those two years of terror, he could not remember; too much had happened during the past years that he could not even understand he had had a different kind of life before the terror.

However, he could remember his father had had trouble with his heart as well and taken medication every day. The man had tried to hide it from the small Slaine, but Dr. Troyard had miscalculated a child’s attention greatly; it was impossible to hide serious things from a child; Slaine had somehow always known. Now that Slaine thought about it, he wondered if that had been the cause of his father’s passing. All he had been told as a young teenage boy was that his father had collapsed and passed away in his research lab back on Vers. No one had seen it happen; his father had died alone and been found hours later, lying on scattered research papers and journals on the floor.

Slaine accepted the medication without any form of rejection and swallowed the pills he got for both the pain from his injuries and the heart disease, and antibiotics for the infections in his wounds. Then he thanked the servant, who offered him a plate with a well filled sandwich, with a quiet and husky voice, and ate breakfast while listening to the servant speak about the soldiers who were busy up on deck and in the cargo holds. Apparently the fleet was right outside of Shanghai, waiting for something the servant had no information about.

Slaine had learned he enjoyed listening to the servant. The young man spoke about trivial things and mostly had a smile on his lips, which was refreshing. The servant seemed happy – nothing like the miserable being Slaine had been in Cruhteo’s care – and the boy figured Saazbaum was kind even toward blood sacrifices. The fingers that touched him when cleaning and redressing the wounds were so warm and gentle Slaine secretly wished the servant would never stop touching him. He missed back to the first day when the servant had caressed Slaine’s breastbone to calm him down enough to make him fall asleep; it had been a wonderfully calming touch.

That had been two days ago.

“My master wants to see you if you feel well enough, young lord,” the servant suddenly said as Slaine had swallowed a big gulp of milk to wet his throat after finishing the sandwich. “Are you ready to speak to him today?”

Slaine stared at the dark-haired young man for a while, carefully feeling how he felt about the matter. Was he ready to face a cursed creature? The human boy was trying to identify how well he felt and, in the end, he nodded. He knew he could not hide from Saazbaum for too long.

As the proud and burgundy dressed man stepped into the room and the servant disappeared out into the corridor, Slaine was relieved to have the beta blockers as medication; his heart did not race from panic and he felt quite calm about meeting with the man who supposedly had saved him. His thoughts and feelings were a mess, however, and he had no idea how to act or what to say to the man. All he could do, while feeling afraid, was to stare at him.

“I heard you are feeling better, Slaine Troyard,” the cursed count said and stared at the boy with a stern look in his eyes, but he wore a weak smile at the same time, which made his expression look less threatening than what Slaine had expected. The tone of his voice was gentle as well; it was apparent the cursed man was used to giving orders, but it was also clear he toned down the seriousness in his voice for Slaine’s sake. It made the boy somehow lower his guard. “Have you been well taken care of?” he continued.

Slaine suddenly felt a haste to answer; now that the fear began to subside, he thought he should show gratitude for the one who had saved his life – at least to his current abilities.

“T-thank you, sir,” Slaine mumbled with a broken voice; his vocal cords had begun to feel better, although his voice still sounded as if he had been chugging down a bottle of whiskey. Time would tell if the damaged vocal folds were going to heal properly or leave scarring that would affect his voice forever. “For saving me, I mean…” he continued timidly.

Saazbaum took a deep breath and his eyes softened further.

“Your father,” the cursed man said. Slaine blinked from surprise of hearing the cursed count mention his father. “He saved me once – fifteen years ago when the war began. I and my fiancée – Viscountess Orlane – were sent out to scout in these waters we are in now, searching for a convoy of human ships that had been reported carrying cargo to the island of Tanegashima.” Saazbaum still sounded gentle and calm, as if paying homage to something that had happened in the past. “My fiancée decided to sail ahead with her part of our fleet and attack the convoy. Once all human ships had sunken, we headed back toward Vers, only to be attacked by a fleet of submarines outside the coast of Khabarovsk Krai.” Saazbaum closed his eyes and took a deep breath. A heavy crease formed on his pale forehead as he seemed to remember back to an unpleasant point in time. “We sent out the mayday distress signal with hopes of receiving support from Vers’s Eastern Military District located in Khabarovsk,” he continued. “But no one answered our distress calls and our ships sunk, taking my betrothed Orlane and many of our soldiers with them.”

Slaine stared at the cursed man with shock and a shiver ran down his spine at the mere thought of Orlane’s and the soldiers’ fate. To go down with the ship was a nightmare scenario for cursed creatures. Because they had no need to breathe, they could survive under water for a while. Their sensitivity for cold would make them wither with pain, to start. Then, since they were still organic, their bodies would slowly decompose in the water like any other corpse would. That process could take a while, and not until their bodies had become organic matter rather than being a swollen corpse, they would die. To live in the claustrophobic darkness of a shipwreck on the bottom of the sea, and slowly feel the body fall apart by being eaten by animals and slowly decompose, was a horrific thought Slaine could not even begin to understand.

“After several days, I drifted in a life raft to the shore of Khabarovsk Krai, and I was found by your father,” Saazbaum finished and opened his calm eyes to look at Slaine.

“M-my dad, sir?” Slaine asked confused.

“I am in debt to Dr. Troyard for sacrificing blood for me and helping me back home. I could not reciprocate his honorable act by saving him, but by saving you I am sure his honorable act of heroism has been returned. He was a respectable and fine man.”

Slaine felt tears in his eyes as the image of his father flickered in his mind. He had had no idea his father had been so brave and kind to save a cursed creature, which made the boy feel overwhelmed with emotions. It was not a surprise to the boy that his dear father had done something as kind as that, but it still gave him a sense of great pride and humility toward his father whenever he heard kind things being said about him. His father must have made a great impression on Count Saazbaum to think the vampire had felt the need to pay back for what the human man had done for him so long ago.

Saazbaum’s eyes looked somewhat sorrowful as he looked at the human boy’s first tears roll down his cheeks, and Slaine instantly hid his face against his knees by pulling them up and lean his forehead against them. The wounds hurt, but the boy felt mortified of showing such a pitiful state to a cursed count; he had been taught he should always look respectable in front of those with authority. Despite his wounds had already made him pitiful enough, he could not bear the thought of crying in front of Count Saazbaum.

“Boy,” he heard the deep voice say kindly, and something brushed against one of his hands that held his knees with desperation. Slaine looked up and saw a white handkerchief of soft silk. “There is no need to hide that you have been hurt, Slaine,” the man continued.

Slaine hesitated about accepting the handkerchief, wondering if he was allowed to be that selfish, but when the man did not pull it away and waited, the boy slowly curled his fingers around it to accept it and dry his tears. He did so while feeling awkward and ashamed, but once he was done he sniffled and collected his thoughts and emotions.

“T-thank you,” the boy mumbled with a thick voice, without looking up at the cursed man. “You are too kind, Count Saazbaum,” he continued mechanically, as if he had been programmed to be polite toward the cursed creatures to avoid conflicts.

Saazbaum did not seem pleased with Slaine’s submissive nature, however; he took a deep breath to let the boy know.

“Never lower your eyes, Slaine,” the cursed man then said with a soft and lecturing tone. “Look up at me.” Slaine did not comply with his order and lowered his head instead to escape Saazbaum’s studying eyes. “Look up at me, Slaine Troyard,” the cursed count said again, this time more sternly.

When the boy failed to comply a second time, a gentle hand reached beneath his chin to force his head up. To face something like that made Slaine release a loud and terrified yelp, and he made an attempt to back away. The hand did not pull away, however; it gently continued with its quest and Slaine’s head was raised from its lowered position. Instead, the human boy closed his eyes and trembled; he feared to look at the cursed man.

“Open your eyes, Slaine,” the cursed man then said gently. “Show me how brave you can be.”

Saazbaum’s last words reverberated in Slaine’s head, suddenly motivating him to push away his fear and mortification. The motivational effect of those words were quite small, but it was big enough to have him slowly open his eyes after a while of hesitation, and look up at the cursed man who had saved his life. The dark eyes of Saazbaum gazed back at him with humble delight, commemorating Slaine’s simple bravery with a hidden smile.

“Do not lower your eyes a second time,” the cursed count advised again. “Keep your head up; you have no reason to be ashamed of what has been done to you. You are strong for surviving something as the intense torture that you were exposed to by Count Cruhteo.”

Slaine was shocked over how kind a cursed count could be. He had completely forgotten Saazbaum had such a kind side to him, but now that he thought about it, he could remember him from the time when a portrait had been taken of the emperor, Asseylum, Cruhteo and Saazbaum; the portrait Slaine had been allowed to participate in. Back then, Slaine could remember the cursed man to have been respecting toward the human child.

Now that the blond boy got time to think, he realized no one had told him about what had happened to Cruhteo. Slaine was suddenly reminded about him telling Cruhteo about the cursed princess still being alive, and cold sweat began to dampen his hands. Had the news about Asseylum’s life still being intact been spread in the cursed community, where the news had reached the traitors?

“S-sir,” Slaine said quietly, and Saazbaum released his chin and folded his hands behind his back like the noble he was. “What happened to Cruhteo? I- I remember his ship was attacked before I fell unconscious.”

Saazbaum got a serious expression to his face, and he closed his eyes for a while to think – probably to search for proper words to form his answer. Then the cursed count opened his eyes and looked at Slaine, and the answer that came from between his lips shocked Slaine to the core:

“Count Cruhteo has passed away.”

“W-what…?” Slaine whispered with shock. His eyes widened. How could Cruhteo have died? When? By whose hand? Slaine could hardly believe what Saazbaum said as he had always thought of Count Cruhteo as a strong cursed man with eternal life held in his hand. Now, he was gone; Slaine’s former master was forever gone from his life.

“You revealed something very sensitive to him,” Saazbaum continued and the seriousness infected his voice as well. “To save you and prevent him from spreading what you revealed to him, I killed him.”

The next shockwave washed over the boy. It made his mind spin. What sensitive reveal was Saazbaum talking about? Did he know about Asseylum still being alive? Had he somehow listened to what the boy had told his late master?

“Why did you … kill him?” Slaine asked quietly. He felt his entire body tremble again. Had he not taken the beta blockers, his pulse would have been hammering away with terrifying speed and his blood pressure would have gone through the roof.

“Since I could not allow him to send out people to look for the princess,” the cursed man said. “I cannot have the knowledge of her still being alive spread.” A dark fire flickered in Saazbaum’s eyes as he got a smile only a devil would have on his lips, and he said: “Count Cruhteo was loyal to Her Highness, always looking after her with a caring eye to make sure she was happy. I must commend you for protecting Princess Asseylum’s life so dearly to risk your own life to keep her safe, but you suspected the wrong man. I am the one behind the assassination attempt on the princess, not Count Cruhteo.”

Slaine’s breath was caught in his throat as he stared at the cursed count smiling devilishly. His mind had come to a sudden halt and his emotions took over. Quickly, with such speed and otherworldly strength that he surprised even himself, he grabbed the knife the manservant had used to cut Slaine’s breakfast bread in half, and dashed up from the bed to attack the cursed man. As he aimed the knife against Saazbaum’s chest, a strong hand grabbed a hold of Slaine’s wrist to the hand holding the knife, and another hand slowly circled his waist to pull him close into a tender hug. Confusion swept through Slaine’s mind.

“Ah. A sudden anger as quick as the flare of a match,” Saazbaum purred. “Hate me all you want,” the cursed count continued quietly and added pressure onto the boy’s wrist to force him to open his hand and drop the knife. It clattered to the floor next to their feet. “Your obsession to keep the princess safe is admirable. However, I will not be kind to those who oppose me.” Slaine breathed with shocked and furious breaths in an attempt to vent out the anger that thrashed around in him. It was suffocating him. “The servant told me your neck has begun to itch,” the cursed count continued, and Slaine stood helpless in his grip, not allowed to resist the cursed man from lowering his lips against his neck. His skin prickled as the wet noise from the vampire’s mouth opening sounded next to his ear, and his angry breaths halted from fear of what was to come. He froze entirely. “Let me help you with that out of the kindness of my heart.”

‘ _What heart?_ ’ Slaine wondered before sharp teeth punctured his neck.

†††

A couple of hours had gone by. The cursed princess had been taken to Deucalion’s sickbay to be treated, and the culprit responsible for her wounds had been taken to the arrest. Inaho had not been allowed inside the sickbay to visit Seylum, nor had he been allowed to visit Rayet in the arrest. He had felt frustrated about not being allowed to visit neither of them, since the urgency to make sure they were safe was grinding in the back of his mind.

The cursed princess would heal quickly, he had learned from his sister; Seylum’s flesh was quick to regenerate once she got blood, and the wound she had was less serious than it looked. She would be properly healed after a day in the sickbay and, while she was healing, the UN was preparing an open broadcast for her to contact her grandfather. Inaho had a feeling it would pull the enemy toward them, letting them trace the signal due to its open nature and let them know where it was coming from. This meant a great risk for battle, and this was one of the reasons why the great ship was being prepared by all departments, which had been filled with people to fill up the needed quota of crewmembers.

Since there was nothing he could do for the moment, he found himself in the hangar where he helped the different crews to load the ship with necessities. Large missiles and cargo boxes filled with silver bullets were rolled past him by people who were authorized to handle them, while he was carrying metal cans with grease and paint to the boatswain’s locker. All around him and everywhere inside the ship, crew was preparing it to become satisfyingly functional to handle a war. There was a lot of work to be done.

Inaho and the rest of the crew had learned from the captain, after she had spoken with the admiral of the fleet, that Deucalion had been abandoned due to the fear of the cursed creature’s spying eyes and the lack of material after the attack on the convoy to Tanegashima fifteen years ago – the attack which Lieutenant Marito had survived. Apparently, the old admiral and his colleagues had known about the ship for a very long time, but had not had the chance or need to continue the construction due to the truce between Vers and the humans. It had been less risky to leave the ship in hiding and avoid triggering the cursed creatures to sharpen their fangs once more. Now that the war had started once more, the ship was brought out into the world from her dark and lonely shipyard in the cave.

Inaho was deeply bothered. He had a lot of things to do and little means to use. While his friends seemed to be mostly relying on the grownups to handle the war, Inaho was worried for the next battle they would face. He felt it in his hands, arms, legs and back as he carried the heavy cans.

‘ _I’m too weak like this_.’

How was he supposed to keep Seylum safe? How was he supposed to save Slaine Troyard if the boy was still alive? How was he supposed to protect anyone from incredibly strong opponents when he was as weak as this? The adults would have just as much difficulties of handling a wave of cursed creatures as the children; the wave of bloodthirsty monsters was sure to come once the transmission with Seylum was made. No training could prepare a human to face the terror of strange bloodthirsty enemies; they were not human but they looked human, which confused and frightened the mind of those who faced these creatures. It was a living nightmare for most of the soldiers on board the ship.

‘ _Everyone can learn how to pull a trigger_ ,’ Inaho thought and lifted one of the cans containing machine green paint onto a shelf in the boatswain’s locker. ‘ _But if you’re fighting for your own survival, you can’t be taught to face death with calm_.’ No matter how fast a trigger could be pulled, the cursed creatures were still too fast and strong and sturdy. ‘ _We need to get stronger…_ ’

“Inaho!” he heard a panicked voice behind him, and the brunet looked over his shoulder to see Calm with a distressed expression on his face and with a chest heaving from running around. “Help me, buddy! I’m in trouble!”

“In trouble?” Inaho asked and turned around. He wondered for a brief moment if it was necessary to be worried or not. What had gone wrong at this hour? No alarms had gone off and no one was panicking except Calm. “What have you done to put you in trouble?” Inaho asked with a monotone voice.

“It’s not my fault! I can’t find it!” Calm said distressed.

“Find what?” the brunet asked.

“The mizzen! I have asked countless of people, but they just laugh at me and say they don’t know where it is!” the Westerner said with a voice shaking.

“Were you sent to look for it?” the Japanese boy asked, suspecting he knew what was going on.

“Yeah. The chief engineer told me to find it an hour ago, but I still haven’t found it!”

“And he told you to take your time; that there was no hurry to find it?”

“Y-yes! How did you know?” Calm asked surprised and stared at Inaho with wide eyes.

“Deucalion is not a sailing ship; it’s a nuclear powered ship,” the brunet explained. “Mizzen is short for ‘mizzenmast’, which is a mast on a sailing ship. You can’t find a mizzen here.”

Calm’s confused and distressed expression turned to sheer shock, and his shoulders slumped as he stared at Inaho with a gaping mouth.

“Then why was I told to find it? No wonder everyone I asked about the mizzen laughed,” he said and sighed heavily. He looked downhearted.

“The chief probably didn’t know what duty to put you on since you’re not a specialist. Right now, the ship is in need for specialist care, and so he asked you to find a mizzen for him to get you out of the engine crew’s way,” Inaho explained and continued to lift the cans up onto the correct shelves for paint and grease and other chemicals. “It’s not unusual for seafarers to put cadets and interns on impossible tasks like that for fun.”

“Damn…” Calm mumbled and furrowed his brows. “That’s really mean. In other words, I’m useless?”

“Not really. They simply don’t need you right now, but once the ship is properly functional I am sure you’ll get plenty of work to do,” Inaho said and turned to walk out of the locker. “Since you have nothing better to do, you can help me fill the boatswain’s locker,” he then said and walked out of the door after Calm moved out of his way.

“Carry cans of paint?” Calm grumbled but followed his friend obediently.

“It can’t be helped. We’re children who have no proper training for construction work; we only know the very basics of maintenance,” the brunet reminded the other boy who walked with a sulking expression next to him.

“I guess someone needs to do these kinds of minor jobs as well,” Calm then said after a while and seemed to cheer up, and together they began carrying cans from the cargo boxes that had been loaded on board the ship. “By the way,” Calm said quietly as he helped Inaho count the cans after they had finished bunkering the boatswain’s locker; the brunet was counting and Calm was documenting the amounts. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately, and I feel worried,” the boy continued.

“To think a lot usually leads to that,” Inaho said. “Twenty five cans with white paint.”

Calm scribbled it down and Inaho began counting the next color.

“I know,” the other boy sighed. “But still… What if this broadcast thing won’t work? I’m getting more and more aware of us being really weak toward the attacks from the cursed. Our resources are declining for each day due to the cursed strangling the life out of our infrastructures. I heard some rumors about several divisions of the Chinese army guarding the borders to Vers were attacked and brutally killed due to their lack of resources, and the Americans have been overwhelmed as well by air strikes and coastal warfare. The only country that is still spared by all this is Australia, but I heard it’s because they’re so far out at sea.”

“Humans and cursed creatures have been in war for several decades, and the winners have mostly been the vampires, who have stolen resources from us humans. They have hollowed us from our resources ever since the curse began to spread and built up their armies with the spoils of war,” Inaho said. “There are only ten cans with red paint. We need to order more with the next delivery.”

“Is that vampire girl still on our side?” Calm then asked and scribbled down the amount of cans with red paint. “I heard there was a commotion in the showers.”

“She still is,” Inaho said. “I’m sure of it.”

“And there’s no more cursed creatures who would side with us?” the other boy continued while Inaho counted the yellow paint cans.

“We don’t know. It is an interesting thought,” the brunet said. “After the war began again, Vers has deliberately been isolated from the human world. There’s no way to contact them, I heard.”

“We need more vampires on our side,” Calm said. “We only have three, and one of them is to be protected and not used for battle.”

“Or some of us could become vampires,” Inaho absentmindedly said and heard something clatter to the floor behind him. As he turned around, he looked at Calm who was completely white in his face. His eyes were wide and terrified of what Inaho had been implying, and the pen he had been holding leisurely rolled over the floor between his feet.

“Are you crazy!?” the boy yelled with anger. “To become one of them!?”

“There’s twenty cans of yellow,” the brunet said and kept staring at the other boy.

Inaho understood why Calm was reacting so strongly to the brunet’s suggestion, but at the same time, he had trouble understanding why it had to be a bad thing to be cursed. There was no real difference between the humans and the cursed when it came to a food source. Humans ate other animals, and vampires ate the blood of humans. Why was eating human blood taboo if it was given willingly? Was the human way of killing animals for food not worse in that case, since a cursed creature did not have to kill the human it drank from? Then again, there was the problem of power abuse; a cursed creature was stronger than a human and could force a human to give them blood, and to control that was difficult just as it was difficult to control the violence and sexual abuse between humans.

The still healing scars on Inaho’s neck made themselves reminded; they tingled slightly, as if they were trying to decide if they should itch or not.

“Don’t ever suggest something like that,” Calm said and slowly relaxed while his face was colored with concern. “You’re human, dude… We all are, but they’re not.”

“If someone turns willingly, I don’t see a problem with that,” Inaho said objectively.

“What if they change their mind? You can’t come back to life after being cursed,” Calm said, which was a valid point. “Would you want to die and come back as one of them? Imagine dying and waking up again; it must be traumatic.”

Many things in the human world were treated with the same kind of caution; the decisions concerning irreversible things needed a long time of thought and assurance that it was something an individual wanted to do. It would not be allowed to make a spontaneous decision with such things; the consequences needed to be broken into detail and be well thought through.

‘ _And right now we don’t have that time to make an assessment of if an individual should be allowed to turn_ ,’ Inaho thought. ‘ _Only an ethical committee would be allowed to make such a decision after months or years of debating and research_.’

“You’re right,” the brunet then said and saw how Calm looked surprised of the brunet agreeing with him. “For me, there’s no difference between humans and cursed, but I understand most won’t think the same.”

Calm shook his head slowly and looked worriedly at Inaho.

“Sometimes you scare me, dude…” he said silently and sighed. “All it takes is a drop of cursed blood, right?”

“We don’t know that,” the brunet answered. “Humans have not conducted research on what it takes to be cursed since it’s not ethically justifiable to curse humans for any purpose. All we know is that a human needs to consume blood from a cursed creature to be cursed, but we don’t know how much is needed – if there’s a limit to it at all. And if there is, we don’t know how the results would behave after giving a human too little or too much cursed blood.”

Then he remembered…

‘ _Seylum told me Slaine’s father had traveled to Vers to do research on the curse in the past, and that he had gotten closer to a scientific breakthrough before his death!_ ’

His heart jumped in his chest from being reminded.

“There’s twenty cans of yellow paint,” Inaho said and walked past a confused Calm. “Do the rest of the inventory.”

“Where are you going?” Calm asked behind the brunet as Inaho walked further away from him and the boatswain’s locker, zigzagging through the working crew in the busy cargo hold.

“To ask for permission again to see someone who might be able to clarify things for me,” Inaho answered.

†††

It felt as if he had been asleep for a long time. His body felt heavy and his mind was groggy, as if he had been sleeping for way too long. Slowly he opened his eyes and blinked as much sleepiness away as possible, and stared at a dark but familiar ceiling. The lights in the room had been dimmed and he had been tucked into bed right after…

‘ _…Right after Saazbaum bit me…_ ’ Slaine thought and pushed his exhausted body up from the bed to look around in the room. Immediately, his eyes fell on a tired man sitting in the armchair next to Slaine’s bed, where the young servant used to sit. On the nightstand next to him, the knife Slaine had used in his attack against Saazbaum lay, shining dimly in the weak light of the room. Had it been placed there to give Slaine a false sense of security?

“Hopefully you got to sleep well,” the cursed count said. Saazbaum looked exhausted. “With all those wounds and medication, I imagine you feel tired.”

The cursed man sat in the chair in a somewhat slumped position, as if he was under the influence of some kind of substance. Had he gotten Slaine’s blood into his system when he had bitten the boy? Was the medication Slaine ate making him exhausted?

“You ordered me to sleep when I was under the influence of your venom,” Slaine said with the husky voice he had now grown used to.

“You are correct,” Saazbaum answered. “Your body needs all the energy it can get to heal, and you were getting worked up as well, which is not good for your heart.”

In other words, the cursed man was looking after Slaine’s wellbeing despite the human boy had tried to attack him with a knife. Where had the blond gotten such strength anyway? He was weak and exhausted from everything he had been through.

‘ _Oh…_ ’ he thought as he began to remember the reason to his outburst back then. ‘ _He is the one behind the assassination attempt on Asseylum!_ ’ Now, he could remember everything clearly as he traced backwards through his memories, and anger began to flare inside him – raging and roaring like a wild beast in a cage.

“I see you are getting worked up again,” the cursed count said and smiled satisfied. “If you do not calm down, I will have to restrain you. Be wise of what you do with that anger of yours. Right now, your eyes are as sharp as needles.”

There was something prideful in the cursed man’s eyes as he looked at Slaine, as if he commended him for the anger he felt toward him. It was bizarre, the boy thought. Why would Saazbaum look so proud to have Slaine hate him? That was what Slaine did; he hated the man. If what he felt could not be described as hate, then he had no idea what hate was. He burned with anger each time he blinked and saw the man again. And then, he heard Saazbaum’s warning from before:

“ _I will not be kind to those who oppose me_.”

“Forgive me,” Slaine mumbled and lowered his eyes. It would serve Asseylum no good if he died or lost the little freedom he had – if he had any. He would never stop searching for her, and he would never allow someone else to come in his way.

“I told you to never lower your eyes, Slaine,” the cursed man said, still with the smile playing on his lips. “Look at me,” he commanded. With great disgust, Slaine looked up at the cursed creature smiling back at him. “Do not apologize for the look in your eyes. Forge those needles into swords with whatever means possible, even if you have to forge them in the fires of your hate toward me.”

It was such a strange thing to say, and even stranger to hear. Maybe it had to do with Slaine still being a sixteen year old teenager and not as mature as Saazbaum, but the human boy could not understand what the cursed count hinted at with saying it was all right for Slaine to hate him as long as Slaine controlled his anger and did not attack him. Why would someone want to make another hate them so much? Was this a whim of the cursed count; something interesting that would make his time pass?

“I am not sure what you speak about,” Slaine said. His voice sounded surprisingly strong despite if was broken. “What do you mean?”

Saazbaum released a pleased snort and looked at the boy for a while, as if studying him. The cursed man’s eyes felt intrusive, as if they tried to peer deeper into Slaine than what he found comfortable. The boy wanted to hide behind the duvet and block the cursed creature’s gaze.

“After you have listened to what I have to say to justify the war I have started, I will give you the challenge of deciding if you want to work with me or turn your back and leave,” the cursed count said. “You are allowed to decide without fear for any consequences.”

“Huh?” Slaine was surprised and shocked. Would Saazbaum let it be that simple? “What happens if I decide to go against you?”

“Then I cannot guarantee your life,” the cursed count said.

“In other words, you will kill me?” Slaine wondered.

“Not necessarily,” the count smiled. “But first, listen to my words, Slaine Troyard, before you decide what to do from here.”

The story the count had to tell was giving Slaine mixed feelings. It began with the Nightfall war when the cursed creatures had decided to build their own nation and take the former Russia away from human hands. It had been Gilzeria – Asseylum’s father and the previous emperor of Vers – who had ordered the first attack against the Russian military after it had been infiltrated under Rayregalia’s order.

Saazbaum told Slaine the reason to why the war had been a necessity had been mainly because the humans had been afraid of the cursed creatures to hunt them, but also because the cursed community had begun to starve and were frustrated of the lack of human blood. The more the population grew, the crueler the system surrounding blood as a food source had to become.

“We should have known it was a fool’s errand to expand our cursed population so drastically, but those responsible for the rapid growth argued it was a must to protect our kind from the humans,” Saazbaum explained.

He continued with a deeper crease forming between his eyebrows as his anger grew. The cursed population had begun to ask for rights from both the Versian royals and the humans, demanding for a chance to live. Gilzeria had seen this as the chance to use the people’s anger and direct it entirely toward the humans, which had set the foundation for the human discriminating nation Vers had become.

“It was the humans’ fault the cursed population was starving according to Gilzeria, who masterfully directed his people’s anger to a convenient sacrifice. He whipped them into frenzy, washing their minds with thoughts of them being better than the humans, and the humans being nothing but cattle,” Saazbaum said.

The cursed count continued explaining; telling about the failed project of offering housing and a livelihood to humans if they settled down in the small colonies built in Vers and became willing blood sacrifices. The humans who sought out these colonies were mostly people who had been driven away from their homes due to the war and had no way of feeding themselves and their families, which made them desperate for any kind of salvation. Since vampires had no need for solid food, the country was thriving when it came to human food sources, giving the blood sacrifices an unlimited food source that was free of charge if they sacrificed blood once per month.

“And yet, the nobles and royals still have the first priority when it comes to blood – giving them an unlimited supply of it – and whatever is left is distributed to the people,” Saazbaum said with a silent but angry voice. “This unfairness was completely lost in the public rage directed at the humans.”

This in turn had given the cursed vampires a bad taste in their mouths; the blood sacrifices had all the food they could eat in Vers, while the cursed were till starving due to the lack of enough blood sacrifices to keep the cursed population properly fed. The blood sacrifices were discriminated and treated like cattle rather than the living creatures they were, simply because of the unsympathetic nature of cursed creatures. Once the knowledge of this began to spread in the human world, less and less humans sought out the colonies to become blood sacrifices. The food they were offered, and a nice house or apartment – nothing of this made the discrimination and suppression worthwhile.

“The more the cursed population continued to grow throughout the war, the more it began to starve,” Saazbaum said. “Now, the nation is on its knees, and this war is my way of patching up the desperate situation our nation is drowning in.”

“But the royal palace has no ill intent toward the humans anymore,” Slaine argued. “How can you do something like tha-?”

“Even though I am concerned for the people, I do carry unforgiving hate toward the royal palace,” Saazbaum interrupted the boy. “I and Orlane gave our all for our nation, and ruled the seas around the Eastern parts of Vers, China and Sea of Japan with the power of a fleet granted to us by His Majesty. We protected our nation’s borders and widened them, but we could not overcome our limitations.”

“Limitations, sir?” Slaine asked quietly.

“The humans had strategically placed their submarine fleets around the world, and Orlane and I were overtaken by their massive power,” the cursed man said with a voice that slowly turned into a hiss. “The royal palace deserves nothing but retribution for what they did to me and my beloved Orlane; they deserve to fall for not offering support for those they send out into battle.” The cursed count’s voice got angrier and angrier the more he spoke and he turned his right hand into a fist. “We were nothing but expendables and treated as such when we needed help to survive. Because of the royal palace, my betrothed’s body has been rotting on the sea floor in an iron casket made for hundreds for a decade and a half. I can still hear her unanswered mayday call, and I can still see her ship Deucalion capsize and go under.”

The fist he had formed slammed against the nightstand next to Slaine’s bed, and the human boy jerked from the surprise. The atmosphere became suffocating and dark in the room. What the cursed man had just told gave the boy mixed feelings. The man was tearing down a nation’s system to save the people while taking advantage of the situation to settle a personal issue with the royal family. It made Slaine feel conflicted. If it was true what the cursed count was saying about the people starving – something Slaine had suspected but not gotten it confirmed – then Slaine could not argue with the man. However, Slaine could not agree with Saazbaum taking the life of the cursed princess. She had done nothing wrong and she was ready to patch up the cracks her father had created.

“I have sworn to put Orlane’s ghost to rest,” Saazbaum then said and let his hand relax. “I have wiped out all of the first generation vampires but the Emperor himself, but soon he is going under as well.”

That truth shook Slaine to the core. Had Saazbaum been responsible for the death of the first generation vampires?

“W-what…?” the boy mumbled with shock that nearly made him panic.

“My infiltrators are everywhere in Vers, even by His Majesty’s side, slowly poisoning him with silver. Even the satellite phone on Tharsis was bugged by one of my men,” Saazbaum said, and suddenly a satisfied smile spread on his lips once more. “You were brave and wise to contact His Majesty with Count Cruhteo’s satellite phone the way you did, Slaine,” the cursed count continued with pride. “Unluckily for you, I heard your call and immediately contacted His Majesty to brush away the dirt you kicked up onto my path.”

Now, everything made sense. The reason to why the first generation vampires had disappeared… The war that had continued… The reasons to why Slaine’s words had not properly reached the emperor and have him take proper actions… The assassination… The confusion… Everything made sense, and the reason to all of those cruel and senseless happenings was sitting right in front of him.

“The Princess in on a ship, named after my dear Orlane’s ship Deucalion. I know the ship is located somewhere in South Korea and I am waiting for a sign of her whereabouts. I have eyes and ears everywhere on the different communication channels and am controlling the stations surrounding this area,” the cursed man then said with an air of disgusting pleasure. “Once I find the princess, she shall die.”

Again, quickly like a flash of thunder and with unearthly strength, Slaine grabbed the knife from the nightstand next to him and was about to dash up from the bed to – for the second time – attack the cursed count. He had to kill him before Saazbaum would kill Asseylum. Slaine could not sit obediently and watch. However, a strong voice that surprised the boy reverberated in the entire room:

“CONTROL YOUR ANGER, SLAINE TROYARD!”

The strength of the voice, and the anger radiating in Saazbaum’s expression, made Slaine freeze. The order was absolute. It unarmed the boy with fear and confusion, and made him stop with the knife raised up in the air.

“You are too passionate for your own good,” the cursed count then scolded with seriousness ringing in each word he spoke. “If you want to fight for her,” Saazbaum then said and pushed his tired body up from the armchair. “Then you will lose her forever due to your unstable nature. I will not remind you about that again.”

Slaine watched dumbfounded as the cursed count walked toward the door. The boy’s thoughts were a mess; he could not make out what was true and false, and he could not come up with a consistent thought.

“C-count…!” he said with a shaken voice and lowered the knife. “Count Saazbaum!”

“I will give you time to think of what to do next,” the cursed man said and opened the door. Behind it, the servant stood with a bowed head and held out a heap of neatly folded garments to his master. Saazbaum took a hold of the piece of clothing that lay on the top of the heap, and threw it to Slaine. A navy blue Versian uniform fluttered onto the bed. “If you decide to stay, dress yourself in our uniform. If you decide to run away to the humans, we will assist you by giving you a fast rescue boat to go wherever you want. However, you are not allowed to choose a third path. I will return in two days.”

Slaine stared at the doorway where Saazbaum disappeared, and in came the servant who closed the door behind him. What was the cursed count’s intention with telling the boy all of the things he had told? Why was Saazbaum behaving so unexpectedly in front of Slaine?

‘ _Why does he keep warning me about attacking him?_ ’ the boy thought confused. ‘ _What is going on?_ ’


	15. Before the War 2 – Until the Storm

“You are not allowed in here,” a soldier said, blocking him from entering the sickbay.

“It’s urgent. I have to speak to her,” Inaho pushed, staring at the soldier with expressionless eyes. He would not back down and obediently leave.

“Then you need permission to enter,” the soldier answered sternly.

“Where do I get it?” Inaho asked immediately.

It felt like a cat and mouse game, where the soldier was the mouse and Inaho the cat; one trying to evade the other with sheer words. The brunet would not get off of the soldier’s back until he got what he wanted. If he had to get permission to enter the sickbay, then he would do it and come back with it.

“You get it from me since I’m in charge of the princess’s safety while she’s healing,” Inaho heard his sister say and, when the boy looked to his right, his sister’s stern look filled his view. “Are you not supposed to be in the cargo holds, helping the crew loading the ship?” she then asked as she walked up to him, and the soldier saluted her. “At ease,” she mumbled awkwardly to the man guarding the sickbay entrance, and the soldier relaxed.

“I need to speak to Seylum,” Inaho said and looked at his sister. “I need to ask her about how the curse works.”

That instant, Yuki got a horrified expression to her otherwise kind face, and she suddenly grabbed Inaho’s arm and pulled him along down the corridor. It was her sign that Inaho was about to do something she did not approve – and Inaho was completely lost to what she thought that would be. All he had wanted to do was to ask the cursed princess a question he had not been thinking about asking before until his thoughts of humans turning into vampires to fight the war had occupied his mind.

‘ _Oh…_ ’ he thought and suddenly realized what Yuki had been thinking.

“I believe I have told you throughout the years to stop trying to read me,” Inaho said as he looked at his sister’s back while she dragged him away from the sickbay to speak to him somewhere in private. “It has a tendency to give you plenty of misinformed data since you’re pretty bad at it – like the toothpaste you used to buy many years ago when we started to live alone.”

“Excuse me if I’m trying my best to look out for my dearest little brother who is the worst at informing me about what he’s thinking, which makes me paranoid,” Yuki said childishly. “And that toothpaste thing was because you never showed me you didn’t like it! You just kept using it as if nothing, despite it tasted horribly!”

She showed him inside a room that had no furniture in it. It was probably meant to be some kind of office in the future. Inaho turned to look at her when she closed the door behind them.

“Taste had nothing to do with it really, as long as the toothpaste did its job,” Inaho said, and Yuki sighed heavily.

“And that’s why I’m so nervous of your ideas, Nao,” she said. “You have always thought about everything like that, not really thinking about the effects and consequences of things concerning you for the simple reason that you don’t care. You’re bad at taking care of yourself,” she continued with a scolding tone. “Why do you need to speak to the princess about the curse?”

“I want to know how it works,” Inaho answered bluntly.

“Why? Don’t tell me you have some crazy ideas that ‘will do their job’ that I won’t like…” his sister sighed and scratched he head tiredly.

“Did you think I would ask her to turn me?” Inaho wondered out loud, and Yuki nodded and looked up at him with sincerely worried eyes.

“Please, don’t tell me it is so,” she said saddened.

“It’s not so,” the brunet assured her. “There was a researcher – a human researcher – who went to Vers to conduct research on the curse there. Seylum knows something about this, and I’m curious about the results the researcher found.”

Yuki narrowed her eyes with ridiculous suspicion, and it frustrated Inaho greatly. No one had ever gone to Vers and conduct research about the curse there where it was the strongest in terms of numbers and culture. That person – Dr. Troyard – was the first and only one who had dared to do that, which meant he had probably been the only one with enough knowledge about the curse to be called an expert. Since he was dead, his papers were the second best thing to consult about what the curse was and how it worked, and Yuki was not interested in it at all, as if she did not understand what Dr. Troyard’s research implied.

“And why are you interested in the results?” she asked and pursed her lips while she studied him intently – probably making a futile attempt at reading the brunet again. “I can smell a fish here!”

“Smell a rat,” Inaho corrected her. “Don’t mix idioms together,” he scolded and then continued: “What if there is a cure to the curse or something that will prevent a human from turning, like a vaccine or inhibiting or antiretroviral drugs?” Inaho asked, and Yuki eyes widened. “I just realized earlier that we know nothing of the turning process, and if the researcher was making a detailed study of the process of turning, then maybe there is information that will be useful for us to protect ourselves.”

Yuki’s expression told him she had not been thinking about that possibility, and her suspicions toward Inaho disappeared. Finally she understood.

“How do you know this?” Yuki asked confused and frowned with interest as she peered at her brother.

“The father to Seylum’s friend – a boy Seylum and I have been talking about – was this researcher, and Seylum took care of the son while his father was busy with doing research,” Inaho said. “No one has made research like that before with the human perspective to it. I wonder if there’s something we can learn from it, like anomalies to the turning process and their reasons and effects.”

Inaho watched his sister think for a while, before she sighed and pulled her slender fingers through her hair. She furrowed her brows and looked thoughtful for a moment – as if trying to decide if she should believe in her brother truly not having any other motives than what he claimed. Inaho had to be honest and admit that he was not entirely sure about his own motives either, but he would not let Yuki know why.

“Fine,” Yuki sighed. “I’ll let you see her since I know you’re not a threat for her,” she continued and got a teasing grin on her face. “And besides, I have to let my little brother see his girlfriend or else he’ll die of loneliness!”

‘ _That again?_ ’ Inaho wondered, confused of how that idea had even been born. Yuki seemed to have simply decided that was the case; her brother and the cursed princess were an item according to her.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” the brunet said and followed his sister out of the room and back down the corridor from where they had come from.

“Don’t be so modest,” his sister teased despite she knew it would not affect her brother in any way; he would not argue back – like usual.

‘ _What does that have to do with modesty?_ ’ the boy thought.

When Inaho was let into the sickbay, Yuki decided to stay outside and make the soldier guarding the door company. The brunet looked around in the big room and saw a brown-haired child prepare a bag with blood outside a drapery surrounding a hospital bed, probably to soon feed the cursed princess. When Inaho approached her, she turned to look at him and scowled.

“How is she?” Inaho asked without paying heed to the cursed girl’s pout.

“Her Highness needs to rest. Who let you in here?” the little girl squeaked angrily.

“It is perfectly fine, Eddelrittuo,” the cursed princess’s voice chirped from behind the white drapery. “You can come and see me, Inaho.”

With a shameful look remodeling the little cursed girl’s countenance, she pulled the drapery aside to reveal a pale girl behind it. Seylum looked exhausted – probably from her regeneration taking a lot of energy – but a smile played on her somewhat blue lips despite her wounded state.

“How are you feeling?” Inaho asked and walked up to the bed. He saw Slaine’s talisman rest on her chest; she must have been playing with it moments earlier.

“Oh, worry not, Inaho,” the cursed princess said while closing her smiling eyes. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes anew to look at the human boy. “The wound was painful, but it was not life threatening. I actually feel fine now; the damaged muscles are weak, that is all there is to it. How is Miss Areash?” she then asked with a concerned look. She was probably worried for the other cursed girl who was in custody in the brig – the jail on board the ship.

“As far as I know, she’s fine,” the brunet answered. “I have some questions to you I need answers to, if you are strong enough.”

The cursed princess’s eyebrows rose with surprise.

“Oh, go ahead. If I can offer you help in any way, please let me know,” she said and waited.

Inaho thought for a short moment about how to word his first question and, when he had come to a plan, he took a deep breath and said:

“You spoke about Slaine’s father who was researching the curse.”

The cursed princess blinked as she heard his question.

“Yes. Dr. Troyard came to Vers to do scientific research on it,” Seylum answered and looked curious.

“Do you know exactly what he was researching?” the brunet continued.

Seylum turned her emerald eyes to the ceiling and thought back in time. She pressed her lips together and furrowed her brows, and Inaho waited somewhat impatiently for her answer. Then, when the cursed princess had decided she had found her answer, she looked at Inaho again.

“Regretfully, I have not read the research papers,” she said and continued: “But I do believe he studied the differences between blood from humans and blood from cursed. I also remember he was studying corpses of both humans and cursed to see if there was any difference between them.”

Her answer was interesting, but Inaho felt somewhat disappointed. He had been expecting more than that.

“Did he study anything about how the process of turning works?” the brunet wondered.

The cursed girl raised a finger to her lips as she thought.

“He must have; that was basically what he was doing by studying blood and corpses,” Seylum answered. “To see if there was some way to reverse the curse or lift it.”

Inaho felt hope once more, but it was short lived as he understood the cursed princess’s knowledge about the man’s research was limited.

“You spoke about a breakthrough he was getting closer to,” the brunet then tried. “Do you know anything about that?”

“Oh, yes!” the cursed princess answered with gleaming eyes. “He found that the curse cannot be lifted or reversed. However, he noticed there was a pathogen in the cursed blood that could not survive outside a vampire.”

“A pathogen that can’t survive outside the host?” Inaho said and stared at Seylum with shock. ‘ _A bearer of disease… Is it a parasite of some sort? A bacteria? Virus? Fungus?_ ’ he thought. ‘ _Or some kind of other infectious agent, like a prion?_ ’

“Yes, exactly,” the princess said smiling. “But – if I remember correctly – the pathogen does not die immediately once it leaves the body of a cursed.”

That was certainly interesting for the brunet.

“How does the pathogen behave if a human consumes it after it has been dying for a while?” the human boy wondered.

The cursed girl shook her head, tousling her golden hair by rubbing the back of her head against the pillow.

“Those who curse humans give their blood directly from a wound; we cursed have always done that. Dr. Troyard passed away before he got permission to test his theories on humans,” Seylum answered. “Although, I believe he had not been given permission to test on humans since no one knows what would have happened, and our ethical committee would have been thinking about the human subjects’ wellbeing as first priority.”

In other words, no one knew how the curse behaved in a human who had consumed cursed blood that had been outside the host for a while. Inaho wanted to read the research papers. He was wildly curious about what Dr. Troyard had found and what his hypothesis had been. Something told Inaho there was information in those papers that would be useful for humans – if not even important for the survival of the human population.

‘ _Our researchers need those papers…_ ’

“Do you know where the papers are?” the brunet questioned.

“In an archive in the royal palace library,” the cursed princess answered. “Why are you interested in these questions?” she then asked with curiosity playing in her beautiful emerald eyes.

Inaho looked at her. Was she suspecting him of the same thing as his sister?

“I’m curious about the curse. I realized I know nothing about it really and, since we are in a war, I thought it would be wise to know more about it,” the brunet said, and this time he knew he was lying; he wanted to do something with the information he asked for.

‘ _I seem to be interested in turning_ ,’ he thought as he understood his curiosity. ‘ _The curse will give me the strength I need, but I’m not sure I dare to go through with it_.’ He was warming up to the idea with being curious; the more information he got about the curse the less frightening it would be to make a decision. ‘ _However, Yuki and none of my friends will let me do it if I decide I want to be cursed – not even if I want to turn to protect them_.’

”I have to dissuade you from accepting the gift of becoming a vampire; it is a curse after all,” the cursed princess warned and looked at the brunet with a stern look in her eyes. She stared at the boy with an examining look, carefully studying him, and Inaho was hesitating to answer; whatever he would say, she would shoot it down immediately.

“You speak about turning as if it was a curse and a gift at the same time,” the brunet noted out loud instead, and Seylum’s beautiful but serious eyes turned into a slight smile while her eyebrows pushed together in a frown.

“If you view it simply as a curse, the burden of it instantly becomes heavier,” she said. “We neutralize the negative consequences of it by calling it a gift as well, since it does bring great advantages, too,” she continued to explain.

“Like strength,” the brunet said, and Seylum stared at him for a second extra before she nodded.

“Like strength,” she repeated and continued as if she had read his mind: “To protect those you love…” She took a deep breath and sighed: “Yet again: I dissuade you from seeking out the curse. Keep your humanity intact, Inaho. Once you die and wake up as a vampire, it really does things to your mind that I do not recommend. I am also sure your loved ones would not find the thought of you becoming the same as the enemy appealing.”

Was it that obvious Inaho wanted to compensate his weakness with drastic measures? Perhaps Yuki had been correct when she had taken him aside earlier, after all; she had known about what Inaho had been thinking before he had been able to identify it himself. Seylum must have met plenty of people like Inaho as well throughout her life as a cursed creature, which made her able to identify the people who sought the power of the curse.

‘ _Has Slaine wished for the curse, too?_ ’ the brunet wondered. ‘ _He must have, considering how much he cares about the princess._ ’

“I see,” Inaho murmured while in thought. “Nevertheless, once this war is over, the research papers written by Dr. Troyard should become known for us humans as well. Our knowledge of the curse is very limited, and anything that might shed light on the mystery of it would be beneficial for both species in future peace.”

Seylum nodded and smiled slightly wider.

“I agree. Let us make that into a reality together,” she said, and Inaho nodded back – feeling torn between frustration and relief; he still wanted to turn to protect those he loved, but the cursed princess had clearly told him the curse was not worth it, that it was truly a curse and called a gift out of desperation.

‘ _But how can I get stronger?_ ’ he thought and looked at Slaine’s talisman on the cursed princess’s chest. ‘ _What would you have done, Slaine?_ ’ The blond haired boy would have probably wanted to be cursed for the same reason Inaho did now, and would have done it without hesitation due to his passionate nature. Slaine would have not considered anything and thrown himself head first into the turning process to become a vampire for Seylum’s sake.

“On another note: It seems I owe you my life yet again, Inaho,” the cursed princess then said with a smile, and the boy woke up from thought and looked at her. “You saved me again in the showers. Thank you for everything you have done for me.”

Inaho stared at her during silence for a while, thinking back to the desperate moment in the showers as he had stood in a pool of blood while holding a naked Seylum in his arms. She had been in such pain, and Inaho had not dared to help her by giving her his blood. Somehow, he felt ashamed now afterward.

“It’s just a part of war,” Inaho said and silently asked himself: ‘ _But that’s not really true, is it?_ ’

He had to be honest and say this time he did nothing but lied to Seylum. The panic he had felt back then, when running toward the showers, had not been because he was afraid the war would never stop if she was killed. That moment had been personal for him. Perhaps he had gotten to know the princess during the times he had shown her around the ship and taken care of her? The intimate exchange he had had with her in Shinawara – offering her his blood – and holding her naked frame in his arms while standing beneath a hot shower stream had done something to him that he could not ignore anymore.

He cared about her. ‘ _Because of the bond she and Slaine has_ ,’ the brunet elaborated in his mind. ‘ _It’s fragile, and I want to protect it_.’ An image of the silver crowned boy flashed before Inaho’s eyes, and the brunet felt a sting in his chest. ‘ _He has to be alive. I can’t forgive myself for leaving him to die twice when he didn’t deserve it_.’

“Perhaps,” Seylum said quietly and looked up at the ceiling while her hands rested on her wounded stomach. Then she continued with her gentle and happy voice: “How many times have you protected me now?”

“I’m not sure,” Inaho answered somewhat confused of why she was speaking about it now and how easily she brushed away Inaho’s somewhat harsh comment.

“Forgive me,” she said and looked embarrassed. A blush did not flush over her cheeks, probably because she was still healing and needed more blood, but it was clear she was feeling self-conscious. “I should be stronger than this,” she then said and frowned. “I have felt like a fish out of water lately; I am stronger than this. I feel bad for you having to run to my rescue all the time.”

“You’ve relaxed a little too much, I’m sure. It’s easy to be fooled to feel safe in an iron fortress like this ship,” the brunet said to calm her. “And I wasn’t out to save you personally, so you don’t have to ask for forgiveness; I didn’t do it for you.”

Seylum turned her head to look at him with surprise in her emerald eyes.

“Huh?” she asked baffled.

‘ _Now I’m lying again_ ,’ Inaho thought. ‘ _Why can’t I be honest with myself and her?_ ’ The truth was he had saved her for personal reasons; he was too personally invested in Seylum because she was pleasant and kind, and he was too personally invested in Slaine since he seemed to be precious somehow. Both of them spoke to Inaho with silent words they were not aware of, telling the brunet they were worthy to be saved. ‘ _I promised I would love him the way Seylum loves him. After our encounters in Shinawara and Tanegashima and after everything Seylum has told me about him, I just simply have to save him for both his and Seylum’s sake_.’

“This is a war,” Inaho said again. “That’s why I saved you.”

‘ _I should stop lying_ … _I have lied a lot lately._ ’

Seylum stared at him for a couple of seconds before a beautiful smile crept over her face, and once it reached her eyes, she said:

“You truly are a good person.”

Now, it was Inaho’s turn to be surprised.

“Huh?” he asked and stared at her with bafflement.

‘ _She knows I’m lying?_ ’ the brunet thought and was taken aback by her ability to see right through him. Since when could she read him like that?

“A good person,” the cursed princess said again without her smile fading. “You truly are, Inaho.”

‘ _I am?_ ’ the brunet thought confused. ‘ _How?_ ’

“Will you…” the cursed girl then continued while still smiling. “After all this is over, will you continue to be my friend?”

To be her friend… The human boy was reminded about their brief moment in the cargo hold, when the cursed princess had let Inaho know she thought of their relationship as new but solid; that they had a bond. Maybe it was all right for him to agree? Maybe he should stop lying now and be honest with her?

Inaho blinked as he decided what to answer, and he gave her a small smile:

“Sure.”

†††

Two days had passed since the blond boy had seen the cursed count. This particular day, Slaine had asked the servant to leave him alone as an important thought had begun to take form in his mind. Now, as he awaited Saazbaum’s arrival to hear the boy’s answer, Slaine stood in front of the bathroom mirror, leaning against the edges of the basin while being deep in thought. He had no answer to give the cursed count yet; it had been too difficult for him to choose to either work along with him or run to the humans. Both sides were a danger for Asseylum; one side wanted to exploit the princess, and the other wanted to murder her.

‘ _How am I supposed to be able to make a decision?_ ’ he wondered and took a deep breath to calm his mind.

He had come to some conclusions concerning the situation he found himself in, which had helped him to get a perspective on it. First of all: He had no place with the humans; he had no home there. Second of all: He had no home with the cursed creatures either. However, with Saazbaum as his new master, he would get a place and position he could use; a place he knew well and a position he could master quickly.

‘ _But then, if I choose to let Saazbaum become my new master, I’ll have to work with him – and he wants to kill Asseylum…_ ’ Slaine thought and frowned. He looked up at the boy in the mirror. He had dark circles beneath his eyes and flushed cheeks. Small adhesive bandages covered his cheeks, beneath which healing bruises lay hidden. ‘ _I can’t do that… I can’t help him kill her._ ’ He lowered his head again and sighed heavier than before. ‘ _And I can’t work with the humans either; they are keeping her prisoner and using her for their own gain._ ’

“What do I do…?” he whispered and gritted his teeth.

This was how his past two days had been like; he had been pondering on what to do without coming to a conclusion. He had had no path to choose to begin with; before the torture, he had been a juvenile child who had tried to do something about an impossible situation without a plan. Now, after the torture, he had been given a choice between two unacceptable paths, and he had to choose one of them.

Could he alter the options he had somehow?

‘ _If I choose to go to the humans, even if I could infiltrate their military by pretending to be a refugee, there’s no guarantee that I’ll find the princess. Saazbaum will probably try to separate me from Asseylum as effectively as possible and not tell me where she is when he learns about her whereabouts; sending me toward an opposite location to hers_ ,’ Slaine then thought and squatted down in front of the basin while still holding onto its edges for support. An unpleasant ache tore through his stomach; as if something tried to claw out of him. Anxiety kicked in and made him take a deep breath to calm down. ‘ _And if I accept to stay with Saazbaum,_ ’ he thought. _‘And I decide to betray him once Asseylum is found, there’s no way for me to do anything to save her; all crew on board are vampires, and I’m a human… I can’t fight them. If only I was strong enough like them, then…_ ’

Slowly, Slaine let go of the basin and covered his head with his arms and curled up on the floor. He felt nauseous and exhausted. For a brief moment, he felt as if he was ready to give up. The ultimatum he had to face was impossible. None of the alternative paths were options he could even consider; he was stuck between a rock and a hard place and Saazbaum would not let him out of it; he was cruelly forced to decide. If someone would have decided for him, it would have been much easier, and he almost wished for Saazbaum to make a decision by forcing the boy into a situation where Slaine had to find tools to handle it with. Then again, Slaine knew he had to choose wisely.

The blond boy continued lying on the floor for a while, letting his mind go blank. He was too tired to think and hoped he would regain some energy to continue thinking while resting on the uncomfortable floor. Slowly, he breathed with shallow breaths – now and then taking a deep breath do compensate the feeling of breathlessness – and listened to his heart gently beating in his chest. He prayed for it to not give up on him; to continue fighting for him so Slaine could keep fighting for Asseylum.

After a while, he felt nothing as he drifted away into a bubble entirely devoid of thought and emotion, and there he rested for a little while – selfishly floating in limbo to escape the ultimatum.

Then, once that brief moment of apathy had passed, Slaine took a deep breath and bit down on his lower lip while he stared at the base of the basin in front of him through a gap between his arms. He had to decide nonetheless; he had to decide carefully, and he had to decide now. No matter how weak and wounded he was, he had no choice but to stand up and make something useful.

‘ _I have to choose the path which leads me to Asseylum the easiest_ ,’ he thought and let his body relax. His arms fell onto the floor from his head, and he closed his eyes in surrender to let his decision form properly in his mind before he would take action according to it. ‘ _Once I find her, I’ll have to improvise._ ’ That decision was the best one he could make – and so, he opened his eyes and carefully got up from the floor.

He walked over to the bed where his uniform lay. It had been lying there all day after the servant had prepared it for him in case Slaine would choose the path that would require him to wear it. Once he got to the bed, he stared at the navy blue uniform with burgundy cuffs and collar, and with golden buttons and details. It felt bittersweet to dress in it once again, but he had made up his mind: He would work with Saazbaum until he found Asseylum, and then he would do everything in his power to save her; he would let Saazbaum do the work and find her, and once Slaine was shown to her, he would make a new decision on how to process right there and then.

‘ _Even if I die in the process, I will do everything I can to save you, princess_ ,’ he thought and reached for the uniform. ‘ _Even if death shouldn’t be an option_ -‘ He unbuttoned the uniform jacket to open it. ‘ _If that is all I am good for, then I will accept it; I have no time for optimistic delusions_.’ He pulled the jacket on and continued with dressing in the uniform trousers before buttoning the jacket and adjusting the accompanying black belt around his waist. ‘ _As long as I can do something that counts, I’ll be happy with it killing me if it comes to that_.’

Once he stood ready – dressed in the night colored uniform, he awaited the arrival of Saazbaum. He ran through his thoughts one last time to make sure this was his final decision, and as he could not come up with any other solution, he took a deep breath to straighten his resolve. No matter what happened from here, Slaine would do his utmost to do what he could to save his secretly beloved Asseylum, or die trying.

‘ _If I can do anything at all, that is_ ,’ he thought with heavy shoulders.

The pessimistic thoughts that ruled his mind were worrying him. They were no good; his confidence was still lying in pieces. Maybe it was a sign he had grown up somewhat after the torture, since before that he had been nothing but a naïve boy who had been driven by emotions and impulses and somehow thought he was immortal. He had basically played with fire without thinking and, in the end, burned his fingers quite horribly – which in turn had damaged his confidence equally badly. Now, he had faced reality; it had no room for delusionary optimism of heroism and bravery since reality was much crueler than that. It refused to cooperate with anyone.

Slaine needed to calculate what he needed to do, which made his decisions much more difficult, and also made him more careful now that he had learned new rules to the reality he lived in. It had been easy to be a brave fool since it had given him the chance to foolhardily throw himself into actions, but now…

‘ _Now, you don’t dare to_ ,’ a voice said in his mind, and he agreed with it. ‘ _I need to be careful with which battles I choose, and I can’t create enemies; I have to find allies instead. But who will be my ally?_ ’ Slaine wondered if he had to start lying and manipulating to fool others to become allies and help him with his cause. ‘ _But that’s too difficult for me; I have been nothing but a naïve boy this far…_ ’

As the door opened, Slaine knew the cursed man was back to hear his answer, and the boy’s pulse wanted to run out of control from unpleasant excitement, telling him this situation was dangerous. Forcefully, he pushed the feelings away, which was made easier due to the medicine he was taking to prevent his heart from beating too fast. This was not the time to panic; he had to gather whatever courage he had and control the fear and hate trying to burst out from behind floodgates. Saazbaum was dangerous, his emotions told him. All cursed creatures were dangerous; they were monsters, and Slaine had to play with them nicely.

‘ _Deal with it_ ,’ he told his uneasy mind. ‘ _I don’t have the luxury to let fear and hate take control over me_.’

The moment the cursed count came into view, Slaine turned his eyes toward him and let his body follow. He straightened his back, pushed out his chest, raised his head and decidedly knocked his boots together to stand heel against heel at attention to meet the cursed count the way he had been taught to greet a superior. Once Saazbaum stepped into the room, Slaine raised his right hand to salute with a well practiced singular movement, and said:

“Blood sacrifice Slaine Troyard reporting for duty, sir.”

†††

The time for the broadcast had come. Inaho stood out on the deck with his friends and sister after the sun had set, and watched the cursed princess and her handmaiden follow an officer down the gangway, surrounded by guards to protect her safety. She had regained her strength and was now on her way to make the broadcast with the hopes of her grandfather hearing her call and message of peace.

As she and her handmaiden walked down the gangway, the golden-haired cursed girl turned to look over her shoulder at Inaho and give the boy a smile.

‘ _I will be back_ ,’ her smile said.

Inaho was hesitant about letting her go down the gangway and step into the military base and bunker, where thousands of refugees were kept, and have her speak to the entire world from there. It was buried in the ground, dozens of meters beneath the surface, and was told by many to be safe. The brunet could not agree.

“I’ve heard the base can withstand besiege for three entire years,” Calm said next to him.

“I think the numbers aren’t entirely correct right now,” Yuki answered with a quiet voice.

“Too many refugees?” Inko asked, and Inaho’s sister shook her head with worry wading in her eyes.

“No…” she mumbled silently, readied Inaho and his friends for sad news with the tone of her voice: “Not all ships with refugees got here,” Yuki said downheartedly. “Plenty went under after being attacked.”

“What?” Nina whispered with shock.

“That’s horrible!” Inko exclaimed.

“It really doesn’t matter,” Inaho said to interrupt them, and continued despite he knew his words would be harsh: “The base is a deathtrap. It might be safe and secure as long as it’s sealed tight, but since new refugees are arriving constantly, the base is kept open quite often. Once a vampire gets in there, the refugees have nowhere to run. There’s no difference in dying out at sea or dying in a bunker; you’re dead either way.”

A silence swept through the small crowd on the deck. Everyone knew the brunet had hit the nail on the head. Even if the base and bunker had high security, it offered no proper resistance to a small crowd of cursed creatures if they wanted to force through it. Thermal cameras and semi-locked gates during a wave of refugees wanting to get in would do nothing, and silver bullets could only do so much damage.

Inaho stared at the back for the cursed princess before she disappeared behind a corner of a small harbor building. It was dangerous for Seylum to make her broadcast all together; no one knew who was listening, and it was uncertain if the transmission would reach Vers at all since the nation had been impossible to contact lately.

She would speak on all the international emergency channels and openly ask her grandfather for an armistice, which meant everyone with a radio would hear her. Due to the problem of contacting Vers, things would not be as easy as everyone hoped they would be. It was a mystery to why the nation had decided to isolate itself from the rest of the world, but it had some tactical planning behind it; that was for certain.

According to the gut feeling his sister had taught him, Inaho had a feeling this broadcast was going to be a mistake, but he also knew no one would listen to his warning if he tried to communicate his worry to authorities. This distressed him; Seylum would be in danger after this if the broadcast did not miraculously go through to the royal palace of the cursed.

Or would it do any difference at all even if the royal palace got the message?

‘ _What if the royal palace is besieged or has been taken over? There seems to be solidarity problems within the Versian military as well_ ,’ the brunet thought. He had suspected there was a disagreement in the enemy forces for a while now, and he decided to prepare for an oncoming battle best he could.

He threw one last glance to where the beautiful cursed princess had disappeared to, before turning around, and said:

“We need to have a backup plan.” Then he began walking, heading toward the armory.

“Nao!” Yuki yelled after him. “Have faith in us, damn it! Let the professional soldiers handle this from here on. Don’t endanger yourself anymore.”

“Sorry, but there’s nothing called a professional soldier when dealing with vampires,” the brown-haired boy said and continued walking alone; no one followed him.

‘ _Don’t trust the soldiers_ ,’ Inaho silently warned his sister and friends. ‘ _They’re still only humans; they’re weak compared to the cursed. Arm yourselves_.’

As he stepped through a watertight door, he pondered on what this broadcast would lead to:

Some kind of revolution was taking place in Vers, which made things more difficult; it was not just a war the humans had to face; there was a tear within the enemy as well. This meant there were two enemies the humans had to face; the Empire of Vers and its traitors.

The knowledge of a tear in the cursed military had not gotten through to the palace, or then the palace was helpless to whatever was happening. If the case was another, something would have already been done about the matter in Vers. Seylum was so confident in her grandfather calling for an armistice if only he learned she was still alive that Inaho wanted to believe her. That was why he was worried about this broadcast, since the cursed royal palace seemed to be in a powerless situation; the broadcast would alarm the true enemies.

As he walked down the brightly lit corridors, raised his feet to get over the frame to the watertight doors in his way, walked down stairs and squeezed past the soldiers and crewmembers walking past him in the tight corridors, Inaho thought of what to do now. The question whirred in his mind like a broken record, never letting him come to an answer.

He wanted to protect those he cared about. He wanted to stop the war to save lives. He wanted to protect Seylum to save those he loved by have her stop the war – and he wanted to protect her because he simply wanted to. And if the blond-haired blood sacrifice was still alive, Inaho wanted to save him and bring him and Seylum together, to let them gaze at the world together again.

The brunet wanted so many things and he realized his thoughts had been much easier in the early start of the war. Back then, he simply wanted revenge on Okisuke’s murder, and he had wanted to participate in the war until he reached his limits. Things had changed a lot inside him since then, which made him care about those around him a little too much to simply do what he had to do; to fight until he was killed in action. Now, the bonds he had created with new people made him want to stay alive for their sake, and it made him appreciate the bonds he had with his loved ones. He wanted to keep all of them safe and happy, and not bother about anything else. The world itself had begun to matter less, and it was a confusing emotion since he knew world peace was the only way for his loved ones to get a happy life.

Calm would grin wide if he heard Inaho’s silent reflections, the brunet thought, since the “cold fish” had gotten lost in the currents of warm emotions.

‘ _I must have strength_ ,’ Inaho thought and then stopped in the middle of an empty corridor. He could not continue the new path he selfishly wanted to follow. A horrible feeling came over him, as if he finally realized he had been crushed beneath a heavy reality: ‘ _I have to have strength that can match a cursed creature. I’m not allowed to think about what those who love me think about this; this war is not about me or them, and it’s not about my humanity; people are dying. It’s as simple as that, and I have to do something to stop it_.’

The reminder of what he had thought at the beginning of the war was this time unpleasant; it felt slightly more difficult to die for the sake of strangers now than before. More bonds had formed between him and others, which confused him and made the risk of dying harder to face. Even the thought of becoming a cursed creature had been made into an emotional mess by the cursed princess, who had dissuaded him from going through a process of turning from a living being into an undead creature.

For a brief moment he saw the images of Seylum and Slaine flicker in the back of his mind, as if his emotions tried to attack him and convince him to be selfish and not care about the world. Then he shook his head.

‘ _Don’t lose focus_ ,’ he thought and closed his eyes in an attempt to sort his thoughts. He was greatly confused now. ‘ _I have to become a cursed creature_ ,’ he persuaded himself and took a deep breath to calm the violent pulse beating in his ears as the unpleasantness spurred it to quicken and harden. He could see the devastated faces of his friends and sister, as well as the cursed princess’s and Rayet’s, if he turned. He had made up his mind. ‘ _I’m sorry, everyone…_ ’

Now that he had decided on what to do, Inaho had to face a problem: The cursed princess would refuse to curse him, and Rayet was of the generation of vampires that were forbidden to curse another for practical reasons. To ask the red-haired girl to turn him was out of the question, since Inaho wished not to risk becoming a beast that gave in to mindless impulses of instincts. He wanted to be of use; a soldier that could match a cursed creature. To become as strong as possible, he had to be cursed by someone who was of an older generation. The problem was that there was no one like that who he could ask without the risk of dying in the hands of a bloodthirsty monster.

‘ _What do I do?_ ’ he thought and opened his eyes again to stare at his boots. Absentmindedly he raised his hand to rub the healing scars on his neck. They still itched slightly.

Inaho decided he could not stay in the corridor and wait for the battle to start without being ready. Everyone on board needed to prepare, and it seemed as if the atmosphere of uneasiness was slowly spreading across the crew; steps by several people came down the corridor, heading toward the armory as well. Inaho looked up at the soldiers walking his way, and he decided to follow them and arm himself.

‘ _I need Rayet, too_ ,’ he thought and stepped in through the door opening into the armory. She was still detained in the brig, and Inaho had no idea when she would be released from there – if she would be released at all. It bothered him to not have her around.

†††

A wind caught hold of his hair and uniform, and Slaine squinted to protect his eyes from the cold wind. He looked around the dark and silent deck of V.E.S. Dioscuria and waited for his new master to get out onto the deck as well; the human boy had been shown out onto flight deck by Saazbaum, who had let the boy walk first and guide him with simple instructions.

Slaine could feel the night air was filled with tension, as if an electric charge was building up.

“I must say I find it pleasing you chose to stay, Slaine Troyard,” the cursed count said smiling as he walked up next to the human boy, and he showed Slaine toward the aft of the ship. Slaine stayed quiet and lowered his eyes to the deck instead as he obediently followed Saazbaum toward the very end of the ship. “I told you not to lower your eyes, boy,” the cursed count then reminded him sternly, and Slaine forced his head up.

“Forgive me, sir,” the blond boy said quietly and walked half a step behind the cursed count, but a hand pushed him forward to walk shoulder to shoulder with his master.

He was still confused of why Saazbaum was giving him such instructions since he still felt very much like a prisoner. Dioscuria was a ship he had never set a foot in before, and it felt as if he was intruding since he could not see the ship as his new home.

“To lower your eyes means you accept defeat,” Saazbaum said and let go of Slaine’s back.

Once they reached the edge of the aft, they stopped to gaze at the dark sea. The waves and wind were loud but Slaine saw nothing due to the clouds obscuring the moon and stars to dimly light up the world before him.

“After what Count Cruhteo did…” Slaine said silently. “… I believe I have no reason to stand proud.”

A heavy hand landed on Slaine’s shoulder and patted it twice before disappearing again. The boy’s confusion grew.

“People are always more anxious about the one characteristic they do not possess,” the cursed man said. “It is easy to forget the countless of others they have.”

Slaine frowned as he could not understand what Saazbaum was implying, and the boy decided to look up at the cursed count.

“Sir?”

“It is highly important to not lose one self, Slaine,” the cursed man continued. “The courage to think and the valor to run away when needed to… The bravery to admit defeat and still stand strong… The fearlessness of never standing still and always pushing forward even during desperate times… The audacity to let oneself feel and embrace one’s emotions…” Saazbaum made a pause in listing the confusing phrases and looked at Slaine. The weak light from the superstructure behind them let the boy know the cursed man pierced him with his gaze. “You are the one walking, Slaine, so walk proudly,” Saazbaum then said. “Remember that.”

Was Saazbaum trying to say Slaine was brave? He spoke so optimistically about shameful things that the boy was lost in what the cursed man was saying. The human boy felt nothing that even resembled bravery. He was a defeated dog, cowering in a metaphorical corner each time his master was close by, worrying about if he had accidentally soiled his master’s carpet.

“Forgive me, sir, but-“ the boy began and halted to take a breath and think of how he would word what he had to say. “Death is a haunting and inescapable darkness, and – for a human – it usually comes along with a hungry cursed creature, who in turn is the very embodiment of death. They are a cold and living darkness that will persistently chase a human until their hunger has been calmed. There is no way to escape the fear or their thirst for blood.”

Saazbaum snorted with a smile – as if he knew something Slaine did not know – and tied his hands behind his back and looked out into the darkness of the sea.

“Remind me again how it feels to stand face to face with a cursed creature,” he said. “Since it was four decades ago I did that myself and had to worry about my own life, would you kindly enlighten me how you view an encounter with a hungry cursed creature?”

Slaine was about to lower his eyes again, but remembered to keep his head up. Instead, he gazed into the same darkness Saazbaum was looking into, and said:

“To stare into the eyes of a hungry vampire is to look into an abyss with no end. The longer you stare into that abyss, the more insane you become out of fear.” He made a pause. “But the fearsome eyes are not the worst…” he said and was about to lower his eyes again, but when he noticed Saazbaum throw a stern gaze at him, Slaine quickly raised his eyes a third time. “Worst of all is the knowledge that while you are gazing into the dark night, something is looking back at you with bared teeth. It sends a chill down your spine and makes your knees tremble, and you know that no matter how desperately you try to run away, you _will_ be caught by that hiding in front of you.”

“And where are you looking now, Slaine?” the cursed man asked.

Slaine blinked as he stared into the night. It was so dark he could hardly see anything in the darkness. A cold sensation slithered down his spine and he wondered if Saazbaum knew something about the darkness he stared into that Slaine was not aware of.

“Into … the darkness of night…” the human boy answered and began to quiver from an emotion that began to resemble terror.

Saazbaum picked up a handheld radio that was hidden in a pocket beneath his burgundy uniform, and said into it:

“Put on the searchlights.”

When the incredibly strong lights lit up the dark night, Slaine’s terrified scream was caught in his throat. Instead, he stumbled backward with a sharp inhalation and was stopped by Saazbaum’s strong hands.

“Remember: Do not lower your eyes, and look closely,” the cursed count said. “You were looking into the darkness where things with fangs were hiding.”

In front of him, not far away, a mighty ship was anchored. At the bow of the mighty ship, a dozen cursed soldiers stood at attention and Slaine met their stares on equal terms as their leader Saazbaum; their eyes stared at the human boy and cursed count, switching between them. The human boy had never before met the eyes of cursed soldiers standing at attention while waiting for orders – not like this where he was the first receiver of their gaze. The thought of them being cursed creatures made the boy nauseous from horror, but since they had a large gap between them, the boy dared to stay put even if he wanted to run away.

“You are brave to face them like this, boy,” Saazbaum then said calmly. “They are all staring at you with hungry eyes, so do not admit defeat by lowering your gaze. They are waiting for my orders but you are the one they look at.” Saazbaum slowly let go of Slaine, but was ready to catch him in case the boy would try running away. “I have to feed them with forced blood sacrifices. This is a war to quench the hunger staring at you now.”

Slaine stared at the soldiers without knowing what to think or do. They were brightly illuminated by the searchlights and the darkness around them was eerie. The shadows the cursed soldiers made were gently rocking back and forth along with the two ships that unnoticeably danced on the waves.

“S-sir?” he asked stammering and could not let his eyes off of the soldiers staring at him from the neighboring ship. “What is going on?”

“The ship you are looking at is V.E.S. Tharsis, and her fleet is waiting further behind her, anchored as well. The Cruhteo fleet belongs to me now,” Saazbaum said with a powerful voice to let Slaine know the man was slowly growing in power.

“T-Tharsis!?” Slaine exclaimed. It was all true then; Count Cruhteo was gone and all he left behind was the Cruhteo fleet, which was now claimed by Count Saazbaum.

“There are few wars between good and evil; most are between one good and another good,” the cursed count continued and looked at Slaine. The blond-haired boy looked up at the cursed man with confusion. “We have found her; the princess’s location is Incheon in South Korea. We will be heading there immediately. She was naïve enough to believe her speech would reach the world, but the stations accepting the transmission has blocked her words from reaching any further than this area. Ready yourself, Slaine Troyard,” the cursed count then said and turned around to walk back toward the superstructure. “Battle is brewing.”

Slaine stared after the cursed man with shock and his heart squeezed tightly. He pushed his hands over his chest as if to attempt cradling his heart in his hands to protect it. His secretly beloved had been found, and Saazbaum was going after her. She was at risk of dying – to be murdered – and Slaine could do nothing right now to stop it.

‘ _I have to get out there!_ ’ the boy thought panicked.

As the searchlights went out and darkness engulfed the boy, Slaine could not help but to hurry after the cursed count out of sheer fright since the hungry eyes of the cursed creatures on board Tharsis became horrifyingly palpable. Saazbaum was his only sense of security now, and he was too frightened to face the darkness alone. He got the feeling the cursed count knew this and somehow took advantage of it for an unknown reason.

Pathetically he followed the weak light glowing at the superstructure’s entrance, to follow his new master to feel safe. Slaine knew he had to prepare for what was to come, but he did not feel ready.

‘ _Asseylum… Please, run before it’s too late!_ ’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About 2 or 3 chapters left of the first season! 8D


	16. Wind, Sea, and Blood – Battle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a little late, but this was a massive chapter to write. So much is going on now that the first season is being wrapped up, that it takes a while to write it.

“ _My name is Asseylum Vers Allusia, first princess of Vers and granddaughter of Emperor Rayregalia Vers Rayvers. I speak now to the people and soldiers of Vers who fight for the cause of avenging my attempted assassination._ ” She sounded strong and confident as she spoke from the speakers, leaving no room for doubt that she was a royal and knew she had power in her words. “ _I am alive and unharmed, and I demand you to cease this meaningless bloodshed immediately. The humans are not responsible for my assassination attempt; the threat comes from within our own nation – from nobles whose only desire was a pretext under which to invade the human territories. The humans have not committed any crime against Vers or the Versian throne, and I demand_ _you to cease this war and tragedy without delay_.”

She made it clear in her speech that she did not ask her people to put an end to this war and make peace; she demanded it – expected it of her people. She sounded like a future queen who would not turn a blind eye to treachery, nor would she accept a failure to obey her commands.

The brown-haired boy stood in the armory, taking what he thought he needed and either strapped the items to the utility belt or put them in the overall pockets while he listened to the cursed princess speak; her voice was heard over the entire ship in the speaker system. The words she spoke were warm but demanding, making sure that whoever was listening knew she was being serious about everything she said. She let everyone know she would not back down and expected her subordinates to obey her without question.

The strong character her voice radiated was much different to the cursed girl Inaho had gotten to know, as if her very person was split between being a simple girl and a strongminded royal. It gave the brunet a sense of security in the middle of all the suspicions of her broadcast not reaching the right ears; Inaho knew the situation was more complex than what a simple but honorable speech could do to calm the political storm and oncoming slaughter. It made him feel worried, nervous and anxious since he had a hunch the transmission would not reach the Versian palace.

The brunet picked up a UV-flashlight and tried it to see if there were any batteries and when a pale purple light illuminated his corner of the armory, soldiers close by noticed what he held and seemed to realize they had UV-lights on board the ship. The provision must have been new, since people were surprised of what the armory contained; the information had not gotten entirely through to the ship’s crew yet.

He took a deep breath as his heart was about to run wild the moment a sudden sense of doom crept over him due to the flashing thought of him still being too weak to fight. It came over him so suddenly it took him off guard, made his entire body and mind protest strongly. Inaho knew no matter what he picked from the armory, it would be impossible for him to face a cursed creature alone anyway. A second heavy breath escaped his lungs and he gritted his teeth to keep his composure until he got out of the armory; he had to get away from the others’ line of sight.

Hurriedly, he got out of the weapons magazine and walked down the corridor until he came to a staircase. There, he walked down and stopped between two decks and sunk down on the floor with his back against the bulkhead. He pulled his knees up to his chest – and then relaxed his jaws to let his aching teeth rest.

‘ _Panic…_ ’ he thought and took a deep breath after a deep breath in an attempt to calm the racing heart trying to beat its way out of his chest. When that helped nothing, he hid his face against his knees and held the uncontrolled breath instead.

It worsened the overbearing emotion of his end coming closer, as if – for the first time – the possibility of dying within a couple of hours became reality. It felt truer than it had ever felt before, even when he had been chased by vampires. Now, it crept along the deck beneath him and on the bulkheads around him. It poisoned the air and weighed down his shoulders, squeezed around his throat and wrenched his guts. It was so unpleasant and inescapable he wanted to lie down and abandon reality all together while breathing wildly. It hurt inside him, and he felt a need for an outlet for all the emotions he could not express and live out.

What would he do with emotions like these? Others would scream and cry, but he had not cried ever in his entire life as far as he could remember. Yuki had told him that once the news of their parents being dead had been delivered to the little girl Yuki had been fifteen years ago, the barely one year old Inaho had begun to cry. That had been the last time the boy had cried. Ever since then, he had been distant to his own emotions, as if there had been a dissonance between his mind and heart, where the mind drowned out the cries of his heart.

Previously – even when he had been reminded about his mortality a while ago when fighting the cursed knight on board Wadatsumi – Inaho had known he had been anxious. Knowing about it was completely different to be immersed in the emotion the way he was now. Now that his emotions were running wild and became so strong he could not be dissociative about them, he had no way to cope with them.

All he could do was to helplessly feel what his heart truly felt; this time it screamed louder than his mind.

‘ _Calm down!_ ’ he thought and hugged his knees until the hardworking muscles on his arms began throbbing. Both his body and mind hurt.

Inaho was not satisfied with the gear he had picked from the armory since he had no superhuman strength in his own bones and muscles, and the one who had that strength was locked up in the brig. He had to admit he could do nothing on his own but die. That was something he could not accept even if there was nothing he could do to prevent that from happening once he stepped out onto a battlefield with monsters. The experience he had told him he needed assistance – and a lot of it.

The boy was serious about protecting the cursed princess now that he had guided himself back to the path where he belonged; to keep her safe in order to protect the humanity. He would only invest energy in his personal goals when he had room to do that; to save Slaine if the boy was still alive, and protect those he loved if he could take action in the given situation.

‘ _I need to turn_ ,’ he thought frustrated and released his breath to breathe slowly with trembling gasps. His body began quivering as well as if he was freezing cold, and sweat pearled down his back and forehead as if he stood beneath a blazing sun. ‘ _Stop! Calm down; I can’t do anything when I’m like this._ ’

A door opened somewhere above him and light steps echoed in the staircase. Someone was coming down the stairs and the brunet had little time to prepare himself to greet whoever it was without looking like a mess. This person would not leave him alone even if he asked them to; people always did that; they never understood the meaning behind the phrase “Leave me alone”. Instead, they would stop to ask the boy why he wanted to be left alone or if they could do something for him, and if Inaho told them he had no wish to communicate his health status to them, they would ask him about that instead. People never left him alone when he wanted them to and, right now, he lacked the strength to argue for his right to be left to fight his inner battles in solitude.

What would he do once this person found him in the pathetic state he was in? How would he make them leave with as little words exchanged as possible?

The panic began to grow.

“I saw you go in here when I came after you,” a young female voice said that he immediately recognized as Inko’s. “Are you all right?”

‘ _Thank God!_ ’ the brunet thought relieved to have his childhood friend find him instead of a stranger who could not understand him. Somehow, he felt no need to hide from her; he felt sheltered with Inko around, and the boy decided to answer weakly:

“No…”

The girl’s steps echoed in the staircase as she walked down the remaining steps with calm. The quiet quality Inko had to her presence whenever she felt Inaho had a need for support was much appreciated by the brunet; had she run down the stairs to come to his rescue, Inaho’s stress would have become overwhelming. Instead, clothes rustled in front of him and a hand landed on the top of his head – bouncing on the dark brown tousled hair a couple of times before stopping to rest there.

“Are you going to the bunker to find the princess?” Inko’s voice asked quietly; it sounded as if she had a comforting smile on her lips as she spoke.

“I’m trying,” the brunet answered quietly without looking up. “However, I can’t seem to bring myself going there.”

“Because the bunker is a deathtrap if an enemy gets in there?” his childhood friend asked, and Inaho nodded silently. “And you’re not strong enough to guarantee you’ll succeed?”

No… That was not it. It had nothing to do with success. The boy was terrified. The panic he felt was not because he was afraid of failure; he was afraid to die.

“I can’t do this alone,” the brunet said quietly. Once again he had to have people understand that he could not fight this war alone like this. He needed support and help – any form of assistance at all as long as he was human and weak.

The hand resting on the top of his head disappeared and clothes rustled once again along with a couple of quiet thuds from the steel cap boots Inko wore. Then, a warm body sat down next to him and pushed against him, as if telling him he was not alone.

“You think you’re doing this alone?” Inko asked him, and the brunet stayed silent. When the silence had dragged on for a couple of seconds extra to make the words feel like a cough in a quiet concert hall, Inko continued: “Do you feel like you get no support from us?”

“You all keep forgetting this is a war,” the brown-haired boy said quietly without looking up at her. “There’s no room for us thinking about ourselves only; sacrifices has to be made or nothing will change.” Inaho knew his words were unpleasant for her to hear, but he had to be candid about what he felt and what bothered him. “I’m ready to sacrifice myself, but the way I am now I can’t do a thing to protect anything. What keeps holding me back is the lack of support from people around me; I need to be allowed to do what I think is best without being blamed for causing hurt.”

The silence was deafening when the girl let the words sink in. She seemed to try listening to them as attentively as possible and consider them. Despite the worry of her attempting to talk Inaho out of the thoughts he harbored, he had hope in her to find the courage to be neutral.

“We all love you, Inaho,” she said quietly, as if trying to make sure the boy was fully aware of it – which he was:

“I know,” the brunet said. “If you care about someone, you do everything to save them. When going out there to find Seylum and help her contacting her grandfather, I am saving those I care about – including you.”

“But you feel you’re not allowed to do that according to us?” the girl questioned, and the boy nodded. “Because we’re selfish about you?” Inaho hesitated to agree with her, since it felt dangerous to tell her she should disregard her selfish feelings and let him run away to die. That would be hurtful, he thought. Inko sighed heavily. “We don’t want to see you die, and I believe you feel the same way about us, and that’s why you’re doing this. I guess your belief in being able to save us is stronger than our belief of doing the same for you; we’re scared to get out there and think we are incapable of making a difference, and so we can’t understand how you can be so certain of your ability and why you would throw your life away for us.”

Inaho understood what she meant. Even if her honesty hurt – that his friends and family were too afraid to give their all to save him – he could not blame them either. He was afraid as well, but far too determined to give way for his fear to roam freely and rule him. Not everyone could have such determination, which made blaming the others impossible.

“What help do you need?” the girl suddenly asked with a quiet whisper. “If support is what you need, I will provide as much as I can.”

This surprised the brunet; he had expected Inko to try persuading the boy from doing what he was going to do. Slowly, Inaho raised his head to peek at her in the corner of his eye, and their gazes met.

There was, once again, an air around her as if she was trying to be brave. It was the same kind of air she had had in the school armory the day they had stepped onto the battlefield for the first time, fighting against a cursed baron along her friends. Back then, she had been brave for someone else’s sake and stepped out onto the battlefield along with Inaho, Calm and cursed creatures. This time, she was brave for Inaho’s sake by assisting him with whatever help she could offer.

‘ _Back then_ ,’ the boy thought and stared at her as he began to understand her. ‘ _Were you brave for me?_ ’ A warm emotion swept through the brown-haired boy, as if the emotion blew away the overbearing sensation of doom that had wrapped around him like a wet blanket. ‘ _You stepped out onto the battlefield for my sake despite you were terrified of dying_.’ An incredible gratitude coursed through him.

“I need strength,” Inaho said. “I need Rayet.”

Inko frowned and took a deep breath before she pouted childishly. She was masking uncomfortable emotions by doing that, clumsily keeping what she honestly felt a secret from the boy.

“So we need to get the guards away from the brig so that you can get in there and get her out of her cage,” the girl said with pretended irritability in her voice. “That’s pretty difficult, don’t you think?”

Inaho felt how his lips curved to a smile when he understood what she actually meant by that, and he raised his head entirely to look at the staircase in front of him.

“Yeah,” he said bluntly.

“We might get caught,” the girl continued in the same manner and stared straight ahead as well.

“It is probably a certainty,” the brunet said.

“We’ll be put into the brig, too,” Inko sighed.

“Probably,” Inaho admitted.

His childhood friend got up from next to him and looked at him with a frowning smile.

“So, let’s get to it,” she said and reached a hand to the boy, who smiled wider and accepted it. Somehow he felt stronger, and once he stood up he felt his legs carried him with more stability than before. “In the morning, we’ll get her out of there,” Inko said encouragingly, and Inaho nodded:

“Thank you.”

†††

“We will soon take the battle straight to the enemy’s stronghold,” Saazbaum said to the officers in the briefing room. Slaine stood at the back of the room, listening to what was being said with a heavy feeling in his stomach. He disliked – hated even – what was being discussed. “Even with the full strength of two fleets, there is no guarantee we will all live through this battle. Everyone – do your utmost to bring down as many enemies as possible, and find the princess. Kill her immediately.”

When the meeting came to its end an hour later, chairs scraped along the floor as the officers got up from their seats to prepare their troops. The atmosphere was filled with bloodlust and determination, and the blond-haired human boy was pushed up against the bulkhead behind him by it; when cursed officers passed him by, they all threw a hungry glance at him with gleaming eyes, which made Slaine want to back away from them as far away as possible.

“Slaine,” he heard Saazbaum say with a commanding tone, and the boy turned his eyes toward the man. “Straighten your back; stand tall and proud,” the cursed man continued and walked toward the door as the last cursed officer had exited the room. “You do as you wish; stay on board this ship or fight with us. I will not order you to kill the princess since I know where you stand when it comes to her, but I shall punish you if you get in our way. Keep in mind you have a heart condition when you make your decision, however, the decision is entirely yours; risk or protect your life.”

The boy was left alone in a shocked state now that he got a chance to choose what to do. He was allowed to get out onto the battlefield and do whatever he wanted as long as he was careful to not intervene with Saazbaum’s mission. He could take an aircraft and fly to where the cursed princess was being kept, and he could figure out the next action once he found her. Then again, the area would be filled with cursed creatures who were all after their princess; it would be impossible for Slaine to disappear with her out of the cursed creatures’ sight.

‘ _What do I do?_ ’ the boy thought and heard the order to all personnel to begin preparing for battle. ‘ _They all believe in Saazbaum’s cause_ ,’ the boy then kept thinking and stepped out into the passageway that began to sound with hurrying steps as cursed soldiers ran to their stations. ‘ _Is Vers truly in such bad shape that its people wants to reform their nation?_ ’ he wondered, bewildered to see the soldiers’ determination to go into battle and risk their lives without a second thought.

Slaine could not possibly fight a political cause like that; an angry crowd was dangerous and unpredictable, strong and robust in its chaotic nature.

“ _Destination: South Korea, Incheon. ETA in thirteen hours and four minutes_ ,” a voice informed in the speaker system.

‘ _I have thirteen hours to make a decision_ ,’ Slaine thought and hurried back to his cabin where the servant was waiting for him. ‘ _I can’t let them kill her!_ ’

†††

“So, what do we do?” Inko asked with a whisper as they had found the brig on board Deucalion after they had had breakfast. Two yawning soldiers sat outside the entrance to the brig, guarding the cursed girl kept in a cell behind the steel door. A large wheel was what kept the door into the brig area locked.

“We need to get them away from there,” Inaho said quietly where he crouched next to Inko further down the passageway, behind a corner. “I’m sure Rayet is strong enough to force the bars if she gets fresh blood.”

The boy noticed his childhood friend look at him in that instant, as if his words shocked her. He waited for her to speak words of opposing character, but she was serious about giving him her support; she stayed quiet and turned her gaze away in defeat.

“How do we do that?” Inko asked, already knowing what Inaho was going to do once he found Rayet. “Should we lure them away?”

Inaho nodded:

“That sounds like our only option right now.”

“All right, I know what to do then,” she said determinedly with a sigh and furrowed her brows. “Inaho, hide somewhere behind the pipes or something,” she said and got up from her crouched position.

“Inko, we need to-“ Inaho began to warn her, trying to tell her they needed a well though-out plan, but the girl would not listen:

“Get yourself ready,” she said and walked hurriedly further down the passageway.

“But Inko-“ Inaho began, and suddenly – as the girl disappeared behind a corner – she screamed so loud it echoed in the corridor and bounced along the bulkheads like a siren.

With a heart beating away in his chest from the unpleasant surprise and shock, he hurried to hide behind a bulkhead next to one of the watertight doors. He curled up and made himself as small as possible, hiding next to two large pipes that emerged from the deck below and disappeared through the deck overhead. What was Inko doing? She had jumped into a plan they had not thought through, and had done so with an impulse. It was outrageous; they had had plenty of time to plan out what to do, but the girl had refused.

Running steps came closer as Inko continued screaming. It was the steps of two soldiers; the ones guarding the brig door. Inaho held his breath as he waited with horrific nervousness crawling over his skin and hoped they would not notice him as they ran past him.

“What has happened, miss!?” one of the soldiers yelled and dashed out through the opening and continued down the passageway.

When the second soldier hurried through the opening and ran after his colleague without noticing the boy hiding in the corner, Inaho hurried up from his hiding place and carefully ran toward the brig. Quickly, he took a grip of the wheel on the door and began to turn it with stress burning his nerve endings. When the wheel came to an abrupt stop, it was the sign it had been completely opened. The boy swung the door open and stepped into the passage between cells, and found the cursed girl he was looking for in the second cell to his left.

“Inaho?” the girl asked with surprise. Her eyes were wide from confusion as she had probably heard Inko’s screams due to her highly sensitive hearing, and to see Inaho rush into the brig with his breath caught in his throat must have been a surprise she had not seen coming.

“Can you force the bars?” the boy asked hurriedly. “I have no keys.”

“Maybe, if I try hard enough,” the cursed girl said and sat up in the bunkbed she had been lying on. “But I need blood for that; I haven’t been fed for a while.”

Without hesitation – despite the fear – Inaho stepped up to the bars.

“I promised you I’ll be your blood sacrifice until our pact have been fulfilled,” he said and reached out his wrist through the bars, presenting it to the vampire. “I need you to fight with me, so drink.”

“Are you insane?” the red-haired girl asked and got up from the bunkbed to walk closer. “Are you busting me out of here?”

“Yes,” the human boy answered and raised his wrist a little more to urge her to bite him. “Drink. Hurry.”

Rayet eyed him with worry, and warned:

“Your neck already itches a little; you’re getting addicted. If I bite you now, it might be the point of no return.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Inaho said. “Whatever happens to me isn’t as important as what could happen if this war isn’t stopped.”

The cursed girl stared at him for a short moment before she nodded with reluctant agreement and stepped up to him to take a hold of the boy’s wrist. Her touch cut through him like a needle; the fear of the bite made the boy want to pull his hand away, but she seemed to be aware of this and tightened her fingers around Inaho’s arm. She looked up at him as if to make sure he would allow her to bite his wrist, and they stared at each other; she to ask for permission, and Inaho to debate with his reason and fear.

“Don’t hesitate,” the brunet finally said, fearing he would give in to his fright and change his mind about being bitten. It would not result in anything good if he changed his mind now and, while he had the ability to verbally disagree with his instincts, he urged her: “Just do it!”

The red hair fell over his wrist as Rayet leaned forward, and her moist breath tickled against his naked skin. Soft lips covered the fragile area beneath his hand and Inaho’s hairs stood on end. Within moments a horrible sting alarmed his mind that something dangerous was going on. Out of instinct, he tried to pull his hand away, but Rayet held it with fingers clutching his wrist like a vise. A second later, a sweet numbing sensation flowed through the boy, his mind going blank and knees buckling beneath him. Inaho felt his wrist be released before he fell to the floor like a ragdoll, and he stared vacantly at the open door leading into the brig. No soldiers were on their way yet, but he had lost the ability to feel relief about it.

Then, a rhythmic and loud bang began to echo in the small compartment. Rayet was forcing the cell door open, slamming against it after repeatedly taking strides toward it with determination. All the boy could do was to wait without a single thought or initiative forming in his mind until his mind cleared.

†††

It was an hour past noon and the ship was heeling in the late autumn wind on the coast of South Korea. The Saazbaum and Cruhteo fleets had met resistance on their way by a UN submarine fleet guarding outside the South Korean territorial waters, and two Versian ships had already been swallowed by the sea while three had been forced to retreat and sail toward the eastern coast of their motherland with damaged hulls.

The battle had been swift due to Saazbaum’s quick actions and readiness; the anti-submarine warfare carriers in both of the Versian fleets had been on highest alert for enemy submarines, and all the sensors on board the fleets’ ships had been tracking possible enemies below the sea. Since the supreme commander of the fleet had had experience of submarine attacks from fifteen years ago, he was this time well prepared to face the unseen enemy. All the weapon systems had been ready, and all the officers had been trained for such warfare and knew what to do with a couple of words from their admiral. It had delayed the fleets no more than with half an hour, before they could continue their travel after sinking the enemy submarines and forcing the remaining underwater ships to retreat.

Now, the angry rumbles of jet fighters being catapulted into the air thundered on the deck, and flight deck crew – dressed in UV protective gear – ran around to guide and prepare the next aircrafts to be launched into the air. An enemy fleet was blocking their way, and the cursed count and admiral Saazbaum had ordered all the aircraft into the air while the Versian fleets were prepared for battle.

Slaine stood at the sideline on flight deck and watched the deck getting emptier of aircrafts while the cold wind pulled at his hair and uniform. It felt as if winter was finally here a little earlier than expected; it was only November but the cold was already biting his bruised cheeks.

The boy still pondered on what to do and he felt stressed out about it. He knew he had to make a decision as soon as possible and act accordingly, but his confidence was pathetically groveling around on the deck around his feet, where it had been beaten down to. What was he supposed to do? What could he do? He was a human boy with mere sixteen years of life experience – and that experience had not been productive lately. He was just a child; a little boy. Right before the torture, he had felt larger than the little frame he carried around in the form of his body; he had felt much more adult and capable – probably been fired up by the desperation to do something to save his secretly beloved princess. After the torture, however, he had been molded into the timid little boy again who dared to do nothing out of the ordinary.

‘ _I can’t stay like this_ ,’ he thought and remembered back to Saazbaum’s lecturing words:

“ _Never lower your eyes_ ,” the cursed count had told the boy many times during the short time they had spent together.

Slaine tried to raise his gaze to look at the next aircraft that was launched into the air. Immediately he lowered his gaze again and took a deep breath; to stand proud and tall was heavier than he thought. It felt unnatural since all he wanted to do was to gaze down at his wounded confidence slithering on the deck rather than pretending he was stronger than he actually was. It felt easier that way – to admit he was weak – due to the hopeless feeling of not having the ability to accept a challenge that was thrown his way because he dared to look the wrong person in the eyes.

“ _Do not admit defeat by lowering your gaze_ ,” Saazbaum had said the night before.

‘ _But how can I do anything else but admit defeat?_ ’ Slaine wondered and frowned. ‘ _I’m not strong like this; being a human in the world of vampires means being weak and worthless_.’

“Hey, if you’re going to take off, then hurry to your aircraft!” someone yelled behind him.

Slaine jerked from the sudden words spoken behind him, and he quickly turned around to see two of the red clad flight deck crewmembers tow a cart with two missiles behind them while a third with a green jacket looked at him with chains hanging over his shoulders. The chains had recently been holding an aircraft secured to the deck where it had been parked. The missiles that were towed behind them were going to be loaded onto one of the aircrafts, and when Slaine looked at the aircraft the flight crew was pointing at, he felt familiar warmth of nostalgia in his stomach. An F-35B Lightning II was waiting with chains still securing it to the deck.

The human boy could only stare at the aircraft. The flight deck crew must have mistaken him for a pilot, but his words were caught in the back of his throat before he got to tell the crew he was a useless blood sacrifice and not a pilot anymore. On top of that, his heart was weak; his wings had been clipped the moment his heart disease had been discovered. It was dangerous for him to fly even with the aid of medication now that he had gotten his first heart attack.

“Um…” he began, but the same voice that had surprised him the moment earlier continued from beneath a mask of the green clad crewmember who carried chains on his broad shoulders:

“Hurry up,” the cursed creature said. “You’re the blood sacrifice, right? The aircraft is yours. Get in there.”

Slaine felt his knees tremble. It did not surprise him they knew he was human and therefore a blood sacrifice, but it surprised him they were preparing an aircraft just for him. It was an F-35B, too, which was the same aircraft model Slaine had stolen from Cruhteo when he had gone out on a personal search for Asseylum and ended up in Tanegashima and met Orange.

‘ _What? Why?_ ’ he wondered and instantly turned his gaze up to the bridge window at the top of the superstructure. There, hiding behind the UV-filters, he saw a dark figure of a man look out over the flight deck. Something told him the man was staring straight at him. ‘ _What are you thinking, Saazbaum?_ ’

That was all Slaine needed, however, to come to a decision; a little push by Saazbaum, who seemed to be well aware of the boy being lost. Now, his wings were presented for him again, and the boy raised his hand to his chest and let his heart decide what to do.

“ _Go_ ,” it told him, and Slaine took a deep breath and straightened his back with determination. He narrowed his eyes with suspicion toward the shadow looming over the flight deck behind the UV-filtered porthole and wondered why the man told him to risk his life like this. However, Slaine afforded not to mind whatever game Saazbaum was playing with him since Asseylum’s life and the outcome of this war was on the line. The boy was pushed to do something, and he turned toward the F-35B that was being loaded.

‘ _Are you testing me?_ ’ Slaine wondered as he walked up to the aircraft while the wind tugged at his blond hair. ‘ _My resolve? My loyalty? My ability? Which is it?_ ’ The boy reached out his hand to take a hold of the stepladder leading to the cockpit, and raised his right foot onto the first step.

His heart wanted to beat out of control from nervousness and fright as he was about to get out there and join the swarm of bloodhounds in the sky. He was not ready, he thought. Flashes of painful memories flickered in the corner of his mind of anguishing torture, and nausea welled up in his throat. Panic was about to erupt with an aggressive attack and the boy desperately tried to press it back by forcing images of his secretly beloved to form in his mind.

‘ _I’m doing it for her_ ,’ he thought and felt a drop of cold sweat pearl down his temple. ‘ _Everything is for her. My entire being exists for her!_ ’ The images of her weakly calmed the fear that tried to terrorize him, but it was not nearly enough to silence his fear. ‘ _I’m going out there for her_ ,’ he desperately tried as metallic clangs were heard from the flight deck crew preparing the aircraft. ‘ _I’m going to save her from the humans_ ,’ he continued. ‘ _I’m going to save her from him; Orange!_ ’

An image of an orange clad boy with dark brown hair emerged in his mind from behind the cloudy form of Asseylum’s beautiful silhouette. The emotionless eyes stared at him, taunting him – coaxing the blond-haired boy to go after him. Anger flared up in Slaine’s chest as if the mere thought of Orange drove him to the brink of maddened hate, which in turn swirled up a whirlwind of absurd and warped senses of excitement and yearning. The overwhelming seduction to hunt the brown-haired boy down was nearly perverse in its nature, and all Slaine needed now was the nerve to go out there and find him.

To wake up the slumbering courage that was needed, he chewed on his lower lip and took a deep breath through his nose. Frantically, he searched for it – begging for it to wake and help him find his precious Asseylum and eradicate Orange. Then, when something soothing came over him as if he found his reason midst the storming emotions, he opened his lips to sigh with relief and heaved his body up onto the first step of the ladder.

‘ _Fine. I’ll let you test me, Saazbaum_ ,’ he thought and climbed up to sit down on the soft seat in the cockpit, and one of the flight deck crew reached him a pilot helmet, which he accepted.

†††

A loud siren was sounding in the area. Orders were being yelled in speakers and people on the docks were busy with preparing for an oncoming attack. The enemy was closing in, the warnings said, and Inaho and Rayet sat behind a rusty container and watched as the bunker gates were about to be overwhelmed by a large crowd of refugees. The human boy and cursed girl had been hiding behind the container all morning.

“ _All civilians, evacuate underground! All soldiers, get to your stations!_ ” a voice sounded in the speakers across the base.

“How do we get me in there?” Rayet asked quietly. She and Inaho quickly pushed their backs against the container wall as a group of soldiers ran past them. “They have thermographic cameras; they’ll notice I’m not human when they scan me,” she continued when the group of soldiers had hurried to their ship.

Inaho thought quickly.

“If we can get you warm enough – thirty five degrees Celsius should be enough – we can slip through,” the brunet said. “Do you know any quick way to do that?”

Rayet furrowed her brows with sincere worry.

“If I drink a lot of fresh blood…” she said quietly. “But you can’t give me that much of your own blood; you’ll become too weak to fight.”

“Will it kill the human you’re stealing blood from if you drink the amount you need to get the proper temperature?” the boy asked quietly and looked around the container corner again to see what was going on among the soldiers and remaining refugees who ran toward the bunker.

“No, but they’ll be really weak and probably need medical attention,” she said and sounded ashamed of even speaking about it.

“We’ll use a soldier for that,” the brunet said bluntly. “Since you are strong and quick, I’ll lure a soldier behind the contained and you take him out.”

A strong hand grabbed Inaho’s shoulder and shoved him up against the container wall with a merciless throw. The boy nearly lost his breath and noticed angry and gleaming eyes stare at him – letting him know how livid the cursed girl was at him for even suggesting something like that.

“Are you even aware of what you’re saying?” the vampire hissed right in front of Inaho’s face. Her cold breath tickled as it collided with his lips and cheeks. “That’s the same as asking me to rape someone!”

Inaho stared at her with the typical emotionless gaze he always had, but beneath his skin a wildly beating heart was agitated by the sudden surge of hormones that desperately tried persuading him to run away from the cursed creature. He forcefully controlled his fear of her threatening presence by staring straight at her, and did so with determination hidden behind his eyes that were void of emotion.

“In that case, you’ve already raped me,” the brunet said. “You’ve already committed the crime once.”

“Don’t try to distract me like that,” the cursed girl growled. “Two wrongs won’t make a right!”

“Wrong,” the brunet said frankly. “Last time you did it out of senseless hunger, but this time you’re doing it for the sake of world peace. We can’t consider feelings over the lives of thousands – if not millions. We have to keep the princess safe. If you have a better suggestion, then speak now or hurry up and figure out what else to do.”

Inaho understood her and knew what wrongs she meant, and he could suspect how the soldier would feel once they would wake up from the power of the cursed venom and realize what had happened to them. Inaho had been the victim of such a crime twice, and even if he felt defiled and hurt, life still went on.

‘ _I know it is cold of me to think like that_ ,’ Inaho thought. ‘ _Trauma can be a heavy baggage to drag along throughout an entire lifespan, but what else can we do now?_ ’

“Are you that intent on your cause, to even sacrifice someone else like that?” the girl asked with a defeated sigh. “How can you live with yourself?”

She had already admitted she had no other plan; she simply wanted to argue with the human boy before she agreed to his warped plan.

“The soldier will either die or be traumatized by something else; this is war after all,” the boy said quietly, verbalizing an unpleasant truth. “Besides, the horrors war brings is far worse than being bitten once while unconscious,” he continued. “Order the soldier to ask for medical care once the venom has taken effect; they’ll be brought to a sickbay and be well taken care of, which is far better than participating in the war on the losing side.”

“Are you speaking from own experience?” she asked, and the brunet nodded. Rayet’s shoulders slumped and she released the boy from her grip. She looked tired. “All right…”

Inaho nodded and stepped out from behind the container without delay. He looked around and saw a soldier wave with his hand to guide running evacuees that had been helping out on board the ships that were moored to the docks. That man would be the victim the boy decided, and Inaho steered hurrying steps toward him.

“Sir,” he said as he got closer to the soldier, who was dressed in a camouflage patterned uniform and wore a blue beret on his head. The soldier turned around to look at him.

“What are you doing here, boy? Hurry inside the bunker,” the man said with a stressed breath.

“My sister,” Inaho said and pointed at the container where Rayet was waiting. “She was hurt in the commotion. I need help.”

The soldier looked at the container and then at the running refugees, before he sighed and turned to run toward the container. The man must have thought that there was no time for questions or hesitations since a wall of fire was creeping closer to the docks from the sea.

“Let’s hurry then,” the soldier said irritated, and Inaho ran after him.

The moment the soldier rounded the corner a loud thud was heard from a body falling to the ground and, when Inaho arrived to the spot where the soldier lay unconscious on the ground, Rayet looked at the boy with a displeased expression.

“Are we really doing the right thing?” the cursed girl asked, and Inaho looked down at the poor soldier. His beret had fallen off of his head and lay next to him on the cold ground.

“I don’t know,” he murmured truthfully. “This might be an unforgivable act of desperation, concealed behind the excuse of it having an honorable purpose,” he continued. “Hurry.”

Rayet hesitated, but did as she was told. She sat down on her knees next to the soldier and gently turned his head to the side in order to expose his neck, and then lowered her lips to the spot where the soldier’s pulse was beating the strongest. Inaho turned to keep an eye on their surroundings in case someone was coming toward them, but the container and its location seemed to be so uninteresting to people that no one cared to even look their way.

In truth, the brunet turned away partly because of the unpleasant sight of watching someone be eaten like that. It awoke obscure emotions within him, which were all related to his experience of being forced to feed a cursed creature. Something crawled on his skin from the mere thought. It was easier to give blood willingly – to offer one’s body to be fed on by someone with consent – than be forcefully taken and treated like expendable cattle. The crime of being forced to be so intimate with someone gave unpleasant and undefinable emotions of being unfairly abused – emotions that could only be calmed by just retaliation.

‘ _I’m sorry_ ,’ Inaho thought. He silently asked for forgiveness from the soldier for forcing him into something traumatic like that, and he asked for forgiveness from Rayet for forcing her to be the bearer of the crime. ‘ _I’m no better than a cursed creature…_ ’

Once she was finished, she whispered the order of seeking out medical care into the soldier’s ear, and stepped up next to Inaho. She looked like any other human with the healthy glow to her skin and a soft blush on her cheeks, and Inaho reached out a hand to touch her cheek to make sure she was warm enough. It was strange to feel a vampire as warm as a human.

Inaho gave her a nod, and together they ran toward the entrance to the bunker.

A large crowd was desperately pushing through to hurry inside the bunker, blocking the path to the underground facility effectively. Since the guards had to scan everyone’s body heat with the thermographic cameras to ensure no cursed creature was hiding among the people, the crowd was shrinking slowly – a little too slowly.

‘ _The air is too cold_ ,’ the brunet thought, feeling worried about Rayet’s temperature.

“Rayet,” Inaho said and looked at her. “You’ll grow cold if we won’t do something.”

“What do you suggest?” the cursed girl asked and pushed a frantic woman from crushing her against a man.

Inaho opened the zipper to his overall and did the same with Rayet’s jacket, and took a hold of the cursed girl’s hand and pulled her close, hugging their bodies together to keep her warm. His heat transferred to her flesh through the thin fabrics they wore beneath their outerwear, maintaining her temperature.

“Push up against me,” the human boy suggested. “I’ll hold you warm.”

Rayet got a heavy blush on her cheeks – much like a human – and awkwardly coiled her arms around Inaho’s torso beneath the orange fabric of his overall. The red tousled hair tickled Inaho’s jaw as she leaned against him and, together like that, they followed the steady stream of humans toward the entrance of the bunker.

The crowd could not move fast enough. Inaho was impatient and nervous about Rayet growing cold despite he tried to share his warmth with her. Somewhere in the bunker, Asseylum was kept protected. If a cursed soldier got inside the bunker, blood would be spilt and the cursed princess’s undead life would risk coming to an end. She had to be taken out of there immediately and put on board the Deucalion; there she was protected in a fortress that had plenty of escape routes and places to hide.

‘ _But the people_ ,’ he thought and looked around the families, couples and lonely people around him. Children were crying and screaming while women and men argued among couples embracing much like Inaho and Rayet held each other. Some were paralyzed or confused and mindlessly followed the crowd, while others said their prayers or reminded their families that they were loved. Even if the people surrounding the boy were not aware of the danger they put themselves and their loved ones in by entering the bunker, the overbearing fear of the war told the crowd they would probably never see the sun set for the day or wake up the next morning. Death was imminent and the crowd felt this somehow, as though it was an natural instinct.

“Inaho,” Rayet said and looked around at the people surrounding them. “If the bunker is breached, what about the-?”

“Don’t bother,” the brunet said while his heart squeezed in his chest from knowing the majority of the evacuees would die if the bunker was forced open. “No one will listen to us anyway; they think they’re safe with the thought of hiding in an underground facility with thick walls. They won’t see the bunker for what it is.”

“You’re always so cold,” the cursed girl complained. “Don’t you care about what happens to them?”

“It’s not that I don’t care,” said Inaho and took a couple of steps forward as the crowd moved, moving Rayet along with him. “I just can’t save these people, nor can you. It’s better if we follow our plan and stay away from further distractions, and let the UN military handle this battle as best as they can. If this is all they can do, then we will have to try and do what we can on our own.”

Rayet scoffed:

“By taking the princess away from here? And then what?”

“Keep helping her to contact her grandfather,” Inaho answered. “We can’t give up on that.”

A loud sound cut through the air and scratched the eardrums of the crowd. The air raid siren had begun to sound, warning that enemy aircrafts were on their way. The crowd the human boy and cursed girl were in began to move like restless waves on a storming sea; panic was spreading in the inpatient crowd, and the people were squeezed together as they began to push closer to the gates into the bunker. They forced their way toward it, and Inaho and Rayet were pressed together so tightly by the crowd that Inaho got difficulties to breathe. He feared his ribs would break from the incredible force, and Rayet seemed to feel the same worry while she gasped and groaned from pain.

The sound level in the crowd increased and drowned out the air raid sirens. Chaos was about to send the situation into an uncontrollable phase, and the air was thick with fierce desperation. The brunet was sure individuals would begin to climb over people to get inside the bunker, and that was when the situation would become deadly.

“We’re – stuck!” Rayet yelled and released a suffocated scream from pain.

As if a salvation had been sent down from the heavens, the crowd began to move quickly. Either the bunker gates had been forced open by the desperate people, or the officers had decided to open them deliberately to let the crowd inside before people began to die. By doing that, the security level dropped and gave the cursed creatures a chance to enter the bunker unnoticed if there were any in the crowd.

Inaho and Rayet helplessly followed the stream of people, but right before they got the chance to enter the bunker the sound of jet engines rumbled through the air. The brunet looked up toward the cloudy sky and saw enemy aircrafts fly closer; some were met by resistance by human aircrafts, while others flew past the human opposition with ferocious determination, not paying any heed to the UN fighters.

“They’re here!” the human boy said with shock. He saw one of the enemy aircrafts open its weapons bay and a white and grey missile was revealed. It circled the area and flew toward the military base, most likely aiming straight at the bunker entrance. “We need to hurry!” the boy yelled, and together he and Rayet began pushing their way ahead.

†††

The force of the jet engine could be felt in the entire aircraft, and Slaine made a last check of the system before opening the lift fan doors at the top and bottom of the aircraft. He signed for the flight crew he was ready, and a crewmember dressed in a bright yellow jacket and helmet began waving his arms to guide Slaine toward the runway.

The boy was glad he was spared from the catapult; the first and only time he had used it in real life had given him a great dislike for it since the sudden and incredible force of the catapult had been nerve-racking. The F-35B Lightning II was far more comfortable due to its advanced short takeoff and vertical landing system, which had no need for the assistance of a catapult.

As the aircraft faced the runway in front of it, the blast deflector had been raised behind him and the airspace was cleared, Slaine got the sign for increasing thrust. The blond pushed the thrust to higher, making the engine scream louder, and gave the aircraft instructions through the controls to perform a short takeoff. Once he got the signal that he was ready to go by the yellow clad crewmember, Slaine pushed the aircraft to full speed and released the breaks.

He was forced back into the backrest as the aircraft answered to his command and began to speed down the runway, toward the edge of V.E.S. Dioscuria. As it reached the end of the runway and the carrier disappeared from beneath him, the weight of the aircraft made itself reminded; the aircraft made a gentle drop before it obeyed Slaine’s command and began to ascend. As soon as the boy was up in the air, he released a heavy sigh of relief after closing the lift fan doors.

Once again he was on his way to search for his secretly beloved Asseylum.

“ _Slaine_ ,” he heard a familiar voice say in the headset built into the helmet.

It was Saazbaum.

“Yes, sir?” answered the boy immediately.

“ _Remember: Never lower your eyes_ _and admit defeat_ ,” the cursed man said. “ _Fight well, but stay out of my way, boy_.”

Slaine furrowed his brows. Why was the cursed count speaking to him like that? He was giving him advice, which made the boy wonder what the cursed man’s objective with him was.

“I will, Lord Saazbaum,” Slaine answered, and the radio went silent.

The aircraft happily made a turn in the air according to the boy’s instructions to fly toward the area where Asseylum was supposedly kept, and a city came into view in the distance. There were plenty of aircrafts up in the air and dogfights were played out around him; the modern radar gave him a complete and detailed overview of the situation in the air. His heart reminded him about its condition as he made himself familiar with the unpleasant knowledge of an enemy aircraft attacking him at any moment the closer to shore he came, and he prayed for his heart to stay calm and work with him:

‘ _Don’t give up on me yet_ ,’ he thought and saw a smoke cloud rise from the harbor where mighty ships were moored. ‘ _I still haven’t saved Asseylum and killed Orange. Don’t give up before that._ ’

†††

The earth shook above them from yet another explosion, and Inaho and Rayet ran through the chaotic crowd of people panicking around them. They had managed to get through the gates right before they had closed in front of the missile, but they had been violently thrown down onto the ground while dust and rubble had fallen around them from the blast. The gates had been damaged since they had not been properly closed and locked before the hit, which made them easier to breach. It was only a matter of time before cursed creatures would invade the bunker.

The human boy and cursed girl were running toward the command center in the bunker, following the signs in the corridors to find the place where the cursed princess was hopefully hidden. Inaho was exhausted already from running around for a long time, but kept pushing forward with sheer willpower. Seylum had to be found and taken to safety before he could rest.

“Is that her?” Rayet asked and pointed at something further down the corridor while she ran next to the boy.

Inaho looked at where she was pointing, and golden locks came into view with a beautiful braid decorating the head of a girl. As the crowd in front of him dispersed somewhat, he saw the brown-haired handmaiden at the cursed princess’s side, and they were luckily on their way toward Inaho and Rayet – probably headed toward the entrance of the bunker.

‘ _Seylum doesn’t feel like someone who would hide in a situation like this_ ,’ the brunet thought.

“Seylum!” he yelled to call for the cursed princess’s attention in the panicking crowd. The beautiful cursed girl turned up her eyes to look at him, hearing him over the screams of people that tried to find some form of safety. Once they got eye contact, she began pushing through the crowd – carefully not to hurt the people in front of her more than necessary.

“Inaho!” she said with relief. “What is happening!?”

“Your broadcast didn’t go through to your grandfather. We’re under attack,” the brunet said and took a hold of her hand to pull her along. Seylum grabbed Eddelrittuo’s small hand to pull her along and not risk them being separated. “Rayet, help us clear the way!” Inaho then said loudly enough his voice was clearly heard over the loud crowd.

The red-haired girl nodded and began pushing through the crowd, slightly more aggressively than Seylum while Inaho guided the Versian princess and handmaiden along the path Rayet made.

To not stay behind and help the panicking refugees – who had no way of protecting themselves from attacking cursed creatures – made the brunet’s heart sting horribly, as if he felt guilty of putting more value in one single person instead of valuing everyone equally. No matter how his conscience tried to bother him about it, Inaho came to the conclusion that Seylum was more valuable than the men, women and children crying around him since she was the princess of Vers. Again and again he came to that conclusion, and each time he had to hold onto that in order to push through the unbearable thought of her not possibly having any political value at all anymore.

‘ _If the royal palace has been taken over and the entire cursed nation is reforming, Seylum won’t matter at all in this war_ ,’ the boy thought. ‘ _She will be an empty pawn_.’

No… That was not it. The royal palace was still standing strong; they had simply not heard the message. The transmission had been blocked somewhere on its way to Vers. It was impossible the entire nation of Vers was trying to assassinate their princess; had she and her grandfather not been respected in Vers they would have been forced to abdicate long ago since they had no other claim to their power than their family being the nation’s founder. The throne was not dependent on the royal family’s bloodline; the royal family was allowed to rule the nation simply because they were considered to be capable to rule by the cursed public, and no one else had bothered to challenge their right to the throne – until now.

‘ _The traitors to the throne can’t be in majority in Vers; if they were they wouldn’t need to use the assassination of their princess as fuel for this war; the people are fighting to avenge her – not because they fear her power and needs her dead_ ,’ the brunet thought and gasped for breath as he ran. The bunker was hot and lacked proper oxygen due to the moving crowd.

There was no time for him to ponder on the thought of what to do next. A gun went off somewhere further up ahead, and people began screaming so loud their voices pulsated and rang in Inaho’s ears as though he stood next to a fire alarm. The crowd’s flow instantly shifted away from the gunshot. Suddenly, Rayet was forced to push through a desperate crowd running mainly toward her and the boy and cursed girls behind her.

“I need help!” the red-haired vampire yelled with frustration and forcefully shoved a young man out of her way. “There’s too much people!”

Something wet fell onto Inaho’s cheeks and shoulders, as if there was a short moment of drizzle inside the bunker. With confusion, he raised his hand up to his cheek and brushed the wetness with his fingertips to look at it.

‘ _Blood!_ ’ he thought shocked.

“There’s cursed creatures inside the bunker!” he yelled to the cursed girls.

“You were right about them getting in here!” Rayet yelled back. “Where do we go!?”

“We should turn around and-“ the brunet began, but was suddenly interrupted by the sweet chirp of the cursed princess behind him. Her hand squeezed Inaho’s gently as she said:

“Let us fight our way out.”

Inaho stopped and turned to look at her. The flicker of a bloodthirsty predator was shown in Seylum’s heavenly blue eyes again; it was the same look she had had when she had faced the cursed baron back in Shinawara – so unlike the girl she had been when she and Inaho had stood in the cargo hold in the middle of the night.

“But Princess!” the handmaiden said with great concern. “You cannot fight several cursed soldiers without blood, and it was hours ago we had any blood!”

“We have to try, Eddelrittuo,” Seylum said with a commanding tone. “The war has not come to a stop. I am still able to move around; I cannot give up yet.” She was determined to force her way out, and her handmaiden seemed to understand this as she lowered her head with a defeated nod.

Inaho looked at Rayet and caught her gaze. He silently begged her to let him break their pact and, to his relief, she nodded. The human boy turned back toward the cursed princess and her handmaiden, and asked:

“How much blood do you need?”

†††

After he had gotten closer to the shore, an unpleasant surprise appeared behind him and threatened to escalate the situation the moment the enemy got the chance. A UN fighter was at Slaine’s tail, waiting for the right moment to attack. The boy had tried to shake him off but the enemy pilot was incredibly persistent on not letting Slaine out of his sight.

“Get off my tail!” the boy cursed and tried a vertical loop, but the enemy followed with ease. The moment the boy made the maneuver, he felt a slight faint as if his blood pressure dropped.

‘ _The medication?_ ’ he wondered and took a deep breath of the oxygen supplied for him through the mask covering his mouth.

Slaine felt anxious even if he had anticipated this event the moment he had set foot on the ladder to climb into the cockpit. The UN pilot was skilled and quick to maneuver according to Slaine’s movements, which made the boy’s confidence as a pilot plummet. The situation felt impossible – frightening even – since he had the disadvantage of a heart condition he had to be medicated for with substances that worsened his pilot abilities.

Even if he was frightened for his life, he convinced himself there was still hope left with keeping the image of Asseylum alive in his mind, and he maintained his determination with the image of Orange. It gave him strength to push through the situation even if he had his tail between his legs, giving him the courage to at least growl back at the enemy challenging him now.

As Slaine attempted a second loop, and the enemy succeeded in following him, he decided the loop maneuver was a failure and had to change his approach. He wondered how well the F-35B would behave in the air with quick movements, and he felt lucky he was oblivious about the limits of his aircraft; he could push it through the recommended limits and force it to perform beyond them without knowing about it. The limits would only serve as obstacles now that he needed the aircrafts absolute performance.

He made a sudden slow turn to the left, forcing his persistent enemy to follow in order to stay behind his tail. The moment Slaine made sure the enemy was following him in the turn, the boy slowed down the speed just slightly to begin the new maneuver he was about to try. Without warning, he pushed the aircraft to higher speed and reversed his turn to the right. This allowed him to cut through the enemy’s path, forcing the enemy to lower his altitude to prevent a collision. Slaine then slowed down the speed once again, before increasing it for a second time and perform a reversed turn to the right, scissoring through the enemy’s flightpath. A third turn later and Slaine had forced the enemy past him and had them in front of him.

The maneuver he performed was called The Scissors, and it surprised him he had managed to confuse the enemy into the disadvantaged position in front of him by luring the UN aircraft to overshoot Slaine. The enemy fighter had more maneuverability than Slaine’s aircraft had, which made the current situation to a welcomed surprise. It had not come without a price, however; Slaine was dizzy from the scissoring maneuver, and he kept breathing with deep breaths to keep his mind as clear as possible.

Without hesitation – to prevent a failed outcome of the maneuver – the boy opened the weapons bay and activated a heat seeking missile. Once the missile had found the heat of the enemy’s jet exhaust, Slaine released the hound that flew toward the enemy with a bloodthirsty speed. To his dismay, the enemy dodged the missile by releasing flares to confuse the missile to attack them instead, and then made a steep climb.

‘ _High g barrel roll!?_ ’ Slaine thought and clicked his tongue as he quickly slowed down the aircraft’s speed to counter it. He had learned to recognize the maneuver from performing it himself back in the airspace of Tanegashima. To stay behind the enemy, Slaine decided to follow him slowly and hopefully get the UN aircraft in gun range.

With surprise, the enemy changed their flight course with a tight turn followed by a steep dive, and disappeared from Slaine’s sight somewhere below him as the boy had been following the enemy’s faked maneuver. He tried to look around him and could not see the enemy through the canopy, and once Slaine turned his eyes to the radar, he realized the enemy aircraft was somewhere behind him, tailing him.

‘ _He’s probably below me_ ,’ he thought and felt sweat pearl down his temples. Nausea made him take a deep breath and the unpleasant sensation of faint came over him once again. ‘ _What do I do?_ ’ he thought. If the enemy managed to get closer behind him into gun range, Slaine’s aircraft would most likely be hit by the enemy’s Gatling gun. To prevent that, Slaine had to make a maneuver that would force his enemy to overshoot, but since the F-35B had a larger turn radius and lower maneuverability than the enemy, he had no way to avoid being followed. On top of that, the enemy was following him slowly and patiently, which would make a feint useless.

The enemy moved on the radar, and Slaine turned to look over his shoulder to see if the enemy had pulled up right behind him. The moment he set his eyes on the enemy tailing him, he saw the weapons bay open and a puff of smoke came out from behind a white and grey object. A missile had been released toward him and the alarm went off in the cockpit.

“I know!” the boy yelled to the aircraft’s alarm due to stress and frustration of the situation.

Without a moment of wavering, Slaine pulled the aircraft’s nose up into a steep climb and released flares. The missiles were faster than any fighter jet, and his only salvation was the flares that burned hotter than the engine’s exhaust.

The steep climb turned into a vertical climb, and within seconds Slaine’s eyesight was changing from the positive G’s his body was subjected to; he lost central vision and got tunnel vision, before the world began greying out as he began to lose sight. His lungs felt like they were crushed and he had difficulties to breathe. His body felt heavy and was forcefully pushed down into the seat and even if he tried to scream, his lungs were so strained that nothing but a gasp came out from between his lips.

‘ _Don’t_ …’ he thought and lost his eyesight; the world became black. ‘ _… faint…_ ’

Within moments, his consciousness disappeared.

†††

A loud sound confused him as Inaho awoke from a daze. It was so loud and chaotic, and the ground vibrated beneath him. Something hit his leg and he groaned from pain and, once he finally managed to open his eyes and focus on what was going on, he realized he was in the bunker in South Korea and a battle was played out before his eyes. The groggy feeling was heavier than it had been earlier that day when he had sacrificed blood to Rayet, and he remembered he had just moments earlier sacrificed blood for the cursed princess and her handmaiden, too.

‘ _I’m so tired…_ ’ he thought and took a heavy breath and watched as a couple of refugees ran past him, away from the battle where the beautiful Seylum swung powerfully through the air with her leg outstretched, and kicked a cursed soldier – sending the soldier into a wall. There, the soldier sunk limply down onto the floor and desperately tried to get up again. The little cursed girl Eddelrittuo quickly pulled the cursed soldier’s helmet off and raised her small foot to take aim and, with otherworldly strength, she stomped it against the cursed soldier’s head, crushing it against the wall. Blood splattered around the enemy vampire’s head and painted a halo of blood on the wall, before the little vampire continued to assist her princess.

Inaho felt sick to his stomach. It was a bizarre sight to see a child-like vampire use such brutal and honest force to kill an enemy without the slightest of hesitation. Her slender legs were covered with blood; the white stockings were completely red, and her small and black patent ballerina shoes left gruesome footprints on the floor while the shadow of a predator flickered in her expression.

Now that Inaho got a closer look, he saw the entire floor was splattered with blood. Lumps of flesh lay all over the place and a couple of cursed and human bodies lay on the bunker floor. Some of the human bodies had been mutilated by cursed soldiers before the fight had begun, and the stench in the area was horrific; it was sickly sweet, and Inaho felt the need to vomit. He quickly swallowed the feeling down.

As strength began to return to his weakened body, he pushed himself up from the floor with support from the wall he had been leaning against. Someone must have pulled him over to the wall to keep him as safe as possible while he had been under the venom’s spell.

A body flew past him and landed a couple of steps away from Inaho, and a blood covered Rayet ran after it before the defeated vampire would rise from the floor and attack back. The cursed girl kicked the enemy soldier back against the floor and jumped with both feet together to land on the cursed soldier’s chest. Rayet used momentum to add force into the landing, and her feet crushed the enemy soldier’s chest and sunk into its cavity. The vampire lying on the floor began desperately clawing her legs while trying to scream, but due to the lungs being crushed, no voice came from between the cursed creature’s lips. Rayet raised her right foot from inside the bloody chest cavity and – with blood dripping from her boot – she stomped on the cursed soldier’s head, crushing it. The enemy went limp as Death claimed the soldier.

Inaho was suddenly struck with terror. He froze entirely as he met Rayet’s predatory gaze, just like he had frozen back in Shinawara when the cursed baron had stood right in front of him, before Seylum had saved him. His breath was caught in his throat and his eyes stared at her without blinking.

“Are you all right?” the cursed girl asked with a cruel voice warped by the thirst for blood. “Can you move? We have to keep running toward the entrance.”

Another cursed soldier came running, and Rayet turned toward him. Inaho saw the cursed girl grit her teeth and her fangs flashed in the light as she made a quick move to dash toward the enemy. The cursed soldier was faster, probably because he was of a generation higher than Rayet, and the red-haired girl was grabbed by her throat and brutally thrown down the wide corridor.

“Rayet!” Inaho heard Seylum’s voice, and the human boy turned his attention to the cursed princess who hurried to aid Rayet. With a single kick of a third generation vampire, the enemy soldier hit a wall. “Are you all right, Rayet!?”

“Inaho…!” the red-haired girl answered as she gasped from pain, and pointed at Inaho. “He’s paralyzed…!”

Inaho saw the cursed princess run toward him, the eyes of a monster turning into that gentle and warm expression she had whenever she looked at him. Despite that, the human boy pushed up against the wall behind him from horror.

“Inaho,” Seylum chirped and reached to take his hand with blood covered fingers. “We need to go.”

Inaho dared not to move away from her; he was so terrified that he could only do what she told him to do. The red and wet hand grabbed Inaho’s wrist and pulled him along when the cursed princess began running, pulling Inaho along, and Eddelrittuo helped Rayet by steadying her.

The human boy was disoriented by fear, but the longer they ran, the more he managed to orientate his way back to his thoughts. He looked down at his hand that felt sticky from blood, and he thought of how surprisingly quickly blood dried. It was a sensation he had never felt before.

‘ _Blood…_ ’ he thought and looked up at the back of the cursed princess running in front of him. ‘ _Cursed creatures…_ ’ He had not understood it how brutal and cruel vampires could be – even those who seemed to be lovable and caring, like the cursed princess and Rayet. They were monsters when battling and did not flinch or show disgust at the amount of blood they spilled. Seylum had told him that something happened with the mind once a human became a cursed creature, and he began to believe he understood what she had warned him about. ‘ _Is it the cruelty she’s showing now that she meant?_ ’ he wondered. ‘ _If I turn, will I become like that too?_ ’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the anime, Asseylum did something I find very peculiar. She _**asked**_ her people to stop the war; she didn't command them like a royal should. I was quite surprised about it, and couldn't allow "my" Asseylum to be that weak minded.
> 
> I believe there's only one chapter left of the first season! *excited* I hope you enjoyed this one.


	17. Childhood’s End – Even Though the Heavens Fall 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The penultimate chapter of season 1!

“ _Oh, Slaine_ ,” he heard an angel call somewhere far away. “ _Where were you born? Can you show it to me on a map?_ ”

“ _Of course, my princess!_ ” Slaine heard his own voice say happily. It sounded young and faded, like in a dream. “ _Somewhere around here, in Northern Europe_ ,” he then said and pointed at a small collection of countries all the way at the top of Europe. “ _I was told I was born during a blizzard_.”

“ _Really?_ ” the cursed princess said and looked excitedly at the boy with glittering eyes. “ _That is so romantic, I think. Like a snow prince!_ ”

“ _T-thank you_ ,” Slaine blushed with a boyish smile playing on his lips. He pressed his knees together, on which his hands neatly rested, and lowered his head to hide his blushing.

The angel giggled:

“ _Are you embarrassed, Slaine? Because I called you a snow prince?_ ”

“ _N-no, I am not, Princess Asseylum!_ ” the childish boy answered with youthful stubbornness. He simply wished not to lose his composure in front of the lovely cursed girl; his juvenile pride had not been able to handle it.

“ _Oh, but I think you are_ ,” the cursed princess giggled and reached out a finger to poke the boy’s nose, and then continued teasingly: “ _My precious snow prince!_ ”

“Ugh…” he gasped and frowned and he began to wake up.

It was a dream of a memory from two years ago right after Slaine’s father had passed away. It was a fond memory that still reminded him about how embarrassed he had been back then as a fourteen year old boy.

Slaine opened his eyes slightly as an echo of an unpleasant sound reached his ears and, when he regained his sight, he looked at a clear blue sky while his body felt unnaturally light, as if he was floating above the seat he was sitting on and was held in place by the belts strapping him down.

‘ _Wasn’t it cloudy?_ ’ he thought and then looked at a control panel in front of him. Lights flickered in an even pattern along with the loud noise that bore into his ears, and when he took a deep breath and forced his head to turn and look around, he noticed he was in a cockpit. That was when he realized the sound was the alarm of him falling freely in the aircraft without engine power.

Panic erupted from a hidden place and he quickly tried to gather the pieces of his disorientated mind to figure out what to do. He knew he had to do something, but he could not come up with anything due to his newly awakened state.

As he was free falling, he understood he had fallen unconscious from the vertical climb due to the positive G’s suffocating him by forcing his blood away from his brain with merciless gravity. The aircraft seemed to have been blacked-out as well; the high altitude was so low with oxygen the engine had been suffocated and stopped working, and he was now falling backwards with the aircraft’s nose directed up toward the sky. The enemy was naturally nowhere to be seen; Slaine was alone this high up in the sky.

‘ _What am I supposed to do!?_ ’ he thought and gripped the steering again with a sturdy right hand that got strength from the horror flowing in him.

Slowly, he managed to turn the aircraft’s body to fall in a horizontal position, which slowed down the speed of the fall and made clouds form above the wings from the pressure dropping as they cut awkwardly through the air. It gave him a couple of seconds extra to orientate in the horrific situation, and then he remembered:

‘ _The intake for the engine is in the front_ ,’ he thought. ‘ _I need to force air into it!_ ’

Quickly, he maneuvered the aircraft into a dive, which increased the speed of the fall once again. Then – before the negative G’s would affect him too much – he pushed the engine to start. Nothing happened.

‘ _Again!_ ’ he thought and was ready to break down into a cry as he pushed the engine to start again while the sea of clouds beneath him looked like it was rushing up toward him.

An ignition was heard from inside the aircraft, and it sounded as if the engine coughed for a moment before the familiar sensation of thrust was felt in the entire body of the machine. The engine was running, which allowed Slaine to level out the aircraft carefully while the feeling of faint threatened to overtake him once again.

To get a visual of the area below him and figure out where he was, he had to get underneath the clouds. Gently, he lowered his altitude and was enveloped by the thick mist that formed the clouds, blocking his view of the ground below him. As he cut through them, he saw the war had arrived to the shore. Buildings lay in ruins and fire was raging here and there. Explosions sent dust and smoke into the air and ships were escaping out at sea, where two Versian fleets were patiently waiting to attack.

The boy looked around him to see if there was any enemy following him, but he seemed to be in the clear. The enemy who had challenged him to a dogfight must have given up on following him as Slaine had climbed toward the sky so steeply; no sane pilot would follow another like that since it meant they would risk falling unconscious – like what Slaine had done just now.

‘ _How do I find Asseylum?_ ’ he thought and ordered the aircraft’s advanced system to scan the area on the shore, to find some kind of waypoint for him to follow and show him to where his secretly beloved could be. ‘ _Saazbaum said she was supposed to be here somewhere, that the transmission had come from here_ ,’ Slaine then thought and visually scanned the airspace by looking around him to make sure no enemy fighter was tailing him.

A picture was shown on the screen in front of him after the scan was finished, and it showed him the area around him was probably a military base due to how the place looked and because of the vehicles in the area that were military. A bunker lay in the middle of it according to the scans, and Slaine figured the cursed princess must be kept there. That was where he would begin searching first, hoping that he would find her and then figure out what to do.

Maybe if he could-

The boy’s planning was interrupted by an alarm being activated. An enemy aircraft had locked its radar onto him and Slaine turned to look behind him at what was going on, only to see a MiG-29 aircraft fly after him. It was an old Russian model, produced in the beginning of 1980’s. It was of the third generation jet fighters – upgraded to a fourth generation – and had been a successful build that had made the model notorious in the sky. Now it was old and worn compared to the fifth generation aircrafts, like Slaine’ F-35B.

‘ _But my F-35B is still inferior; it wasn’t built for dogfights like this!_ ’ the boy thought frustrated.

He wondered why Saazbaum had given him the F-35B. Slaine had simply stolen such a plane from the late Count Cruhteo simply because it allowed him to conveniently takeoff without the need for a catapult, and not because he liked the model. It was comfortable to fly with and it did most of the needed work on its own without the pilot having to do much. It had sensors that could find enemies from long distances and it could scan and analyze object to let the pilot know if they were enemy tanks or aircrafts, or threatening ground weapons or ships. The onboard camera could also take detailed images of the ground to give a clear picture of the pilot’s surrounding below.

However, the F-35B was built for distance attacks to face a modern enemy, which gave the aircraft troubles in a situation like Slaine’s; the war right now was dominated by non-modern enemies, and the F-35B was bad at handling close range combat. It was built for advanced networking with other aircrafts, and was supposed to function as the eyes of the sky and be a smart and stealthy attacker rather than an attack dog. If Slaine had been allowed to choose, he would have liked to fly a Hornet or Fighting Falcon simply because he thought they were still better at doing their job in a close range air-to-air combat.

‘ _Damn it!_ ’ he thought frustrated and felt cold sweat pearl down his temples and forehead. He brushed the droplets away with his sleeve and kept an eye on the aircraft behind him. It was flying toward him like a dart toward a target plate, impatiently following him and trying to quickly close the gap between them to get into gun range. Perhaps the enemy had used up all of their missiles on other Versian aircrafts, the boy thought, and had only the onboard gun left to use?

“Come on, then,” Slaine hissed and took a deep breath as his heart felt unnaturally heavy. His confidence plummeted again, but he gripped the steering hard with determination while focusing his thoughts on what his mission was. “I’ll save Asseylum. I don’t even care if I anger Saazbaum, and I won’t let you get in my way, human!” he said angrily, and a dark flash of hatred stung his mind at the image of Orange emerging in his mind out of nowhere.

‘ _Nor will I let you get in my way, Orange!_ ’

He had to lure the enemy aircraft to overshoot him somehow, which was easier now due to the enemy’s speed compared to the enemy moments before, who had followed Slaine slowly and patiently. The impatient ones were the easiest to fool since they realized their mistake too late after gaining too much speed. To use that to his advantage, Slaine had to quickly slow down speed with a maneuver that would surprise the enemy attacker and make them slip past him, so that Slaine could go from a defender to an attacker instead.

Slaine slowed down his speed and let the enemy shorten the distance, and, once the enemy was close enough, the blond boy pulled the control stick back hard, and the aircraft’s nose rose up into the air. The F-35B’s speed was dramatically slowed as it stood vertically in the air and began to lean back just slightly while maintaining altitude – performing the first part of the Pugachev’s Cobra maneuver. The aircraft was not aerodynamic enough to perform the maneuver properly; the aircraft was clumsy, but Slaine managed to control it.

The moment the enemy flew past him, Slaine finished the cobra maneuver by lowering the nose again to get into horizontal flight path and began tailing his enemy. He added thrust to compensate for the slowed down speed to quickly close the distance between them, but it would take a while until he had regained the energy he had lost. Without energy – the primary factor in controlling and maneuvering an aircraft – the F-35B would be clumsy and slow, and would not be able to perform the maneuvers Slaine could possibly need in the dogfight.

To his dismay, the enemy made a turn, rolled away from their flight path and pulled their aircraft high up toward the cloudy sky. Slaine immediately recognized the enemy’s maneuver as a possible High yo-yo maneuver, which meant the enemy would try to perform a loop and take advantage of Slaine having lost speed due to his cobra maneuver. The High yo-yo would – if completed – allow the enemy to quickly descend to a position behind him.

Slaine decided he would take the chance and treat the enemy’s maneuver as a High yo-yo; he had too much to lose from second guessing himself. The boy relaxed his turn, instead of making a tight turn, to his right and, by that, the aircraft began to increase speed and turn radius, and thereby restoring the energy he needed to perform his next maneuver. It was a careful maneuver that allowed him to place himself somewhere where the enemy would not expect him to be after finishing their maneuver.

The moment the enemy was about to complete their maneuver and descended with a dive, Slaine was just a little off from the enemy’s attack and had already restored the energy he needed. The blond gritted his teeth and used his energy to force the aircraft into a roll and dive steeply to follow the enemy in their dive, placing Slaine as the attacked once again.

The gravity in the cockpit shifted; his guts felt like they were pushed upward against his diaphragm and his vision spun again from the change in blood pressure. He tried to focus on the enemy as best as he could, but his sight began to grey out once again. This time, if he lost consciousness, he would have no way to save himself the way he had done moments earlier. His altitude was too low to allow him to wake up from the short blackout that threatened him now.

‘ _Come on!_ ’ he thought frustrated and took a deep breath of the oxygen in the mask.

When the enemy pulled up from the dive, Slaine followed. As the boy was right behind the enemy MiG, he activated a radar guided missile, locked the hound onto the enemy and released the leash. He was tailing so close now that it would require a miracle for the enemy to save themselves, and, as the missile rushed toward the enemy, Slaine turned away to avoid the blast.

Somewhere behind him, an explosion took place and the enemy MiG went down. The boy felt relieved but sluggish; the blood pressure had made him dizzy again, and he wished for a moment of lazy flight to clear his mind and recover from the intense force his tired body had been subjected to.

Fate seemed not to be on his side, however. Two enemy aircrafts had been alarmed by the explosion and began following the blond boy, who took a deep breath and felt tears in his eyes. The boy was so tired that his eyes produced hot tears that streamed down his pale cheeks, and he felt like protesting by kicking and screaming. The frustration of not being left alone, and the intense stress level he found himself in, was merciless and made an explosive anger flare up in his chest.

“Damn you, humans,” he sighed and made himself ready to, this time, face two enemies.

†††

The recoil from the gun made his arms tingle unpleasantly each time Inaho pulled the trigger. He had pulled it four times and, as a result, a cursed creature began screaming as the silver melted her brain for a short moment. Rayet was quick to aid Inaho and attacked her, forced her down onto the bunker floor and squeeze around her throat with strong arms while an animalistic glare focused on the enemy soldier thrashing around in her grip.

“Hurry!” the cursed girl yelled to Inaho, who ran up to them and aimed the gun toward the cursed soldier’s head.

He emptied the magazine containing silver bullets into the enemy’s head without hesitation, as he had done twice during the fight inside the bunker, and hurried to pick up a new magazine from the small bag at his hip, strapped to the belt around his waist. It was slippery with blood, and so was his orange overall. To prevent any of the cursed blood to slip into his mouth, he had tied a rag over his mouth to protect him from being infected by the curse.

Rayet let go of the cursed soldier, who began flailing around on the bunker floor while screaming and clawing at her head because of the burning pain from the silver. The red-haired vampire then made sure to protect the human boy as he reloaded the gun while the cursed princess and her handmaiden were kept busy by enemy soldiers trying to take their princess down and kill her.

Seylum was frighteningly strong; she was a third generation after all. She was faster and stronger than the seventh and eight generation vampires, like Rayet and Eddelrittuo, but, paradoxically, she was far more collected and less blood thirsty than the red-haired girl and handmaiden. The latter were far more animalistic in their way of fighting, not approaching their opponents with calculated attacks like those of an older generation. Seylum was calm and collected, studied her opponents’ movements and took action accordingly to counter them.

She was harder to take down than the soldiers and Inaho was grateful she was not his enemy; she was fearsome when practicing her strength. The presence of a cursed creature, who were of an older generation, was so absolute it was impossible to ignore. Seylum’s existence was shaking the atmosphere in the large corridor, and the enemy soldiers felt it as well; they were somewhat hesitant of attacking her, terrified of her strength just as the human boy, but pushed through to obey their leader’s command.

When Inaho had reloaded the gun, he turned to face the next enemy. Blood splattered across his orange overall again and over the rag covering his mouth. He had lost count of how many times cursed blood had wetted him, but the sickly sweet stench of blood had not become as intense as it was now that it soaked into the fabric covering his nose.

This time, the splatter had come from the cursed princess slicing the throat of an enemy soldier several meters away from him with her bare hands; her attack had been so strong the enemy’s dark red blood had flown across the large corridor. The human boy was taken aback by it despite he had already been splattered with plenty of enemy blood, and staggered as sickness welled up in his stomach and threatened to make him vomit again. The wet feeling of it covering him and the penetrating smell made his eyes water, and he gaged. He had to remove the rag and get out of the wet overall as quickly as possible.

Throughout the entire fight, that had been ongoing for what felt like an eternity by now, Inaho had been forcing down nausea that welled up each time a gruesome sight shocked him. He had never seen so much blood before, and he had never seen death in such a large scale in his entire life, that all he could do was to stubbornly push forward and – as best as he could – shove away the shocks to deal with them later. Right now, he had to get out of the bunker along with his ally vampires and ignore his raging emotions.

They continued to push forward, slowly closing in on the broken gates of the bunker that had been forced open by the enemy. The exit was in their line of sight, and the cursed girls kept fighting and tirelessly pushed through the waves of enemies while Inaho aided them with his gun and UV-flash light.

“Agh!” he heard the voice of Seylum yelp, and, as he turned to look at her, he saw her stagger back with hands over her throat. An enemy vampire was aiming at her with a gun; they had probably shot their princess in her throat.

“Seylum!” Inaho exclaimed and raised the gun to aim at the cursed soldier that had shot Seylum.

The moment he got the enemy in the gun’s sight, he pulled the trigger and hit the enemy in their chest. The cursed soldier released an angry growl while staggering as the bullet wound sizzled, and Inaho hurried toward Seylum to aid her.

Without warning, a hand grabbed him by his arm and threw him to the floor with such force the brunet hit his head and lost his breath, and a cold body was quickly over him, forcing his head aside to reveal the left side of his neck. A cursed soldier was desperate for blood, and terror crawled over the human boy’s skin.

‘ _No!_ ’ the boy thought as desperation washed over him like a wave of boiling water.

He realized he could barely move as his body was in a daze from the hit, enabling him to fight back against his assaulter. When he tried to open his eyes, the world was colored yellow and was floating in and out of his focus with muddy pictures of an enemy soldier pushing him down against the cold floor.

Inaho needed strength. That was the thought that flashed through his desperate mind.

“Don’t you dare!” an angry and powerful roar attacked Inaho’s ears, and he was instantly released from the looming shadow that had pushed him down against the floor. “He’s my blood sacrifice!” the brunet then heard Rayet growl right next to him. Wet hands took a hold of Inaho’s cheeks: “Are you all right?” he heard the cursed girl continue.

“I…” Inaho mumbled groggily and took a deep breath to clear his mind. “Not – sure…”

“You’re exhausted from blood loss,” Rayet’s voice said worriedly while the tumult around them kept shaking the air and floor. “You have to get up, though! You can’t relax yet, Inaho!”

The human boy knew this; he knew how dangerous it was to collapse from exhaustion and damage in a situation like this, but he could not argue with his body and get up from the floor. Rayet seemed to realize this as she raised Inaho up from the floor and put his left arm around her neck to support him and carry him with her.

“I might have to suddenly let go of you if we’re attacked,” she warned him. Inaho opened his eyes again and the colors around him began to clear and become normal. The color of the blood surrounding him was not welcomed, however.

“All right…” he sighed and tried to keep focus on what was happening around him.

The cursed princess and her handmaiden were still fighting, throwing the enemy soldiers away from their path. Seylum was bleeding violently from her throat, but she was still strong enough to lunge a cursed soldier across the corridor with a mere kick. The cursed princess and her handmaiden seemed to have given up on incapacitating their opponents as they had been hurt as well, and pushed toward the exit rather than killing each foe that came in their way.

When they managed to get out of the bunker and hid behind containers close to a dock, Inaho dropped down on his knees and let out the nausea from between his lips. He rested on all four and vomited violently from the disgusting sensation of being wet with blood and the smell of it. It was so sickly sweet that now that he was in a temporary safe place, he allowed himself to be weak and get rid of the sickness slithering in his throat.

Rayet held his trembling shoulders with strong hands to let the human boy know she was there, supporting him.

When Inaho was finished, he looked up toward the sky and saw a chaotic battle take place in the air. The sky was burning with war from explosions and aircrafts burning, and the asphalt was covered with cracks and burnt craters from bombs and missiles. The military buildings and vehicles were ablaze or crumbling, and dead bodies of both humans and enemies lay on the ground. The moment the human boy removed the rag covering his mouth and nose to breathe in fresh air, he breathed in air thick with an acrid smell of chemicals and burning material; the strongly smelling smoke lay heavy over the area.

“The ships!” Eddelrittuo yelled to drown out the rumbling of aircrafts in the sky. “They’re not here!”

“We need to call Deucalion or Wadatsumi,” Inaho said. “We need a radio.”

Seylum quickly ran up to a human soldier and – with a tender apologetic look for looting the soldier’s body – she freed the corpse from its radio and headset.

“Will this do?” she asked with a broken voice after she had covered the bullet wound on her throat, to direct the air she breathed out through her mouth instead of the bullet hole. It looked beyond uncomfortable, and Inaho wondered how much it actually hurt.

When Seylum hurried back to Inaho’s side, the brunet nodded and accepted the radio.

Before he had the time to call Deucalion, something in the corner of his eye flickered and a loud mechanical growl followed that made him look up toward the sky. A fighter jet was flying on low altitude, cutting through the air like a needle with two enemy aircrafts following it. The flicker Inaho had noticed was a large white cloud forming behind the aircraft, forcing itself through the air with impressive speed. A cone like cloud emitted from behind the aircraft, and a sudden and sharp crackling sound exploded in the air and made Inaho and the cursed girls next to him jump. A blast wave blew through their hair and clothes, tugging at them mercilessly. The aircraft reached the sound barrier, creating a sonic boom that shook the air and stabbed the boy’s eardrums.

‘ _That aircraft…_ ’ he thought and stared at it with astonishment before it disappeared from his view with the two UN aircrafts after it. The brunet recognized the aircraft model immediately, and the decal on its wing saying “ _STOVL_ ” made the brunet’s heart flutter with sudden relief. ‘ _Bat?_ ’

Was the human enemy soldier still alive; the boy Seylum loved; the silver crowned blond boy; the one Inaho had promised to save?

†††

The enemy aircrafts were on their way and came closer toward him. The speed he had managed to build up was pushing him into the seat, and he knew he would soon force his way through the sound barrier as he flew on a low altitude. To figure out what to do was impossible with the anxiety gnawing at him and with his heart aching unpleasantly. Slaine mind was in an uproar from worry, weakness, fright and stress; he was under tremendous pressure.

‘ _My heart hurts. I feel faint. With the two enemies chasing me, I’m in a pinch. Asseylum…!_ ’ he thought and felt tears in his eyes while he whispered an apology to his secretly beloved in case he would not survive this encounter.

He looked around the military base to see if he could find something that would help him. Buildings. Vehicles. Trees. Anything. If he could lower the altitude considerately and fly past tall objects, perhaps the UN fighters would break their chase due to it being too dangerous to follow.

‘ _But there’s nothing_ ,’ he thought and gasped as it suddenly felt like something snapped in his heart, sending a tinge throughout his chest area and arms. ‘ _Someone, help me!_ ’ he prayed and gritted his teeth as the fear of getting a heart attack felt imminent. He understood he was too sensitive to pressure after his heart disease had emerged, and he would not be able to fight a war like this.

Suddenly, he set his eyes on four figures emerging from the smoke further up ahead behind a container. Golden hair caught his eye and, in that instant, Slaine momentarily forgot about being terrified of his heart hurting and the enemies chasing him. Without thinking about it more than necessary, he quickly focused the aircraft’s camera toward the people on the ground to take a picture.

‘ _Could it be?_ ’ he thought as the aircraft’s canopy was covered by a white cloud.

A sudden thunder struck his eardrums and his chest was compressed as if someone hit him with a sledgehammer. His mind blanked for a second and he wondered with shock what had happened. Even the thought of him suddenly being dead crossed his mind before his sight returned and he confirmed he was still alive. He turned his eyes to the control panel and saw the speed meter show that he was flying with the speed of 669.13 knots, which – he realized – meant he had a moment earlier reached Mach 1; broken the sound barrier.

It was his first time reaching Mach 1, but he had no time to appreciate the moment. He quickly directed his eyes toward the control panel screens in front of him and zoomed in on the picture he had taken right before reaching the sound barrier, and the hurt in his heart made itself reminded as he saw the silhouette of the beautiful Versian princess covered in dark patches – patches that must have been blood. Next to her, her handmaiden Eddelrittuo’s blood-stained figure was seen, and, just slightly behind them, two other figures were visible.

A hint of an orange colored overall claimed all of Slaine’s attention with such brutality he forgot everything for a short moment; his fear of the enemies faded, his heart ache was numbed and the shock from breaching the sound barrier was swiftly forgotten. All he could see was Orange – it could not be anyone else – and hatred festered within him, rotting his mind.

‘ _Why is he following Asseylum?_ ’ Slaine wondered confused and was about to brood over it, but was interrupted by something hitting his aircraft. One of the enemy fighters was shooting at him, and a bullet must have hit the hull of the boy’s F-35B. ‘ _Enough already!_ ’ he thought and was reminded about where he was and what was going on around him.

How would he face the two enemies chasing him? He was in such bad shape, he felt, that a fight was difficult for him to take part in. With his body and mind in uproar, he was doomed to be defeated.

A second bullet hit his aircraft, and a warning let him know there was pressure leakage in the cockpit. Sweat pearled down his temples and he gritted his teeth so hard a screeching sound rumbled in his skull. A third bullet hit somewhere behind him, but as no alarm went off, it had luckily not hit anything vital. However, if Slaine did nothing, his luck would end; he would soon fall down from the sky with a smoke column trailing behind him. In order to perform any kind of maneuver on this low altitude, he had to slow down his speed and then make an evading maneuver.

As he turned to look behind him and see how far away the enemy aircraft were, he saw they were in gun range. If he slowed down now, the enemy could get a perfect shot at him; the closer they were the more damage the enemy’s bullets would do. Slaine’s mind rushed with broken ideas of what to do – none of them leading to a proper conclusion, which he could base a decision on. Every thought was a blurry haze rather than anything solid, which made the boy feel uncertain of what to do. Only a miracle could-

An explosion filled his view while he kept his eyes on the enemy following him; a missile had hit one of them. The UN aircraft plummeted while pieces flew off of it, and a black pillar of smoke grew behind it as it fell toward the ground. The remaining enemy disengaged from the chase and a Versian aircraft – a Raptor – emerged from above behind Slaine.

“ _Are you all right?_ ” Slaine heard a soldier say through the speaker of the helmet’s headset.

“Versian?” the boy asked and got it confirmed. “How did you know I am one of you? There’s so many aircrafts in the sky.”

“ _While it is difficult to make out who is who, I recognize our nation’s own aircrafts anywhere_ ,” the pilot of the Raptor said. “ _An F-35 is a Vers only aircraft_.”

Slaine took a deep breath now that he felt he had support. To fly alone like a bluebird was a dangerous trial when the sky was filled with hungry falcons.

“Thank you,” the boy answered.

“ _You’re the blood sacrifice, right?_ ”

The Raptor pilot knew the boy was human and a mere blood sacrifice, and yet he had decided to come for the boy’s rescue.

“Y-you knew?” the blond asked, and the Raptor pilot answered with a non-patronizing scoff:

“ _Of course; Lord Saazbaum let us all know his new blood sacrifice would be out here in an F-35_.”

‘ _What…?_ ’

Slaine’s thoughts began to swirl and twirl in his brain, colliding with each other like chaotic particles. Why had Saazbaum told his subordinates about him? Why was the Versian pilots aware of Slaine flying among them? Was this a part of whatever test Saazbaum had decided to carry out on the human boy?

‘ _Why is he testing me!?_ ’ the boy screamed in his mind. He disliked to know someone had planned something for him without letting him know what it was. The moment Slaine had given himself to Saazbaum – to be the cursed count’s blood sacrifice – the cursed man’s look had changed slightly, as if the vampire had been pleased with Slaine’s decision for more reasons than him simply getting a new blood sacrifice to feed on. Now that the blond thought about it, he realized Saazbaum had not had any of his blood nor ordered him to avoid taking medication to keep his blood pure. It had only been about a week since Slaine had been brought on board Dioscuria. ‘ _What will he use me for?_ ’ Slaine thought suspiciously.

“Then why did you save me?” the blood sacrifice wondered. “I’m a blood sacrifice and a human; I’m not one of you,” and heard the Versian pilot answer:

“ _Who are you fighting right now?_ ” Slaine dove into deeper confusion and furrowed his brows. “ _The aircraft you shot down moments earlier – whose aircraft was that; ours or the humans’? Nobody aims at their comrades, which means you are one of us_.”

It felt as if he was being scolded at, yet it made him feel relieved somehow. He had never before heard a cursed creature besides Asseylum acknowledge him as one of them. Even if the Raptor pilot’s words felt comforting, they were not entirely true. Slaine knew he was still different from the cursed since he still had the human quality to him, which also built a wall between him and those he served. He would never be the same as a vampire the way he was now.

‘ _A cursed creature doesn’t need to worry about illness; they only have to worry about their hunger_ ,’ he thought and unintentionally touched his right canine tooth with his tongue. It was not sharp like that of a vampire.

Before Slaine had time to say anything more to the cursed pilot, a falling enemy aircraft collided with it out of nowhere, as if the defeated pilot had intentionally aimed at the Versian Raptor. With shock, Slaine stared at his suddenly deceased hero plummet along with the human aircraft toward the sea below.

†††

“ _We shall send a fast rescue boat to claim you. What is the status of the princess?_ ” Inaho heard Captain Magbaredge answer him after he had called for her in the radio and explained what was going on at his end of the battle. The boy’s body shook as he held the headset pressed against his ear.

“She is hurt but fine,” the brunet answered. “We’ll wait for the FRB’s arrival.”

“ _Give them some kind of signal once you notice them_ ,” the captain said.

“Roger,” the exhausted boy answered and then let his hand drop to his side and leaned his head back against the cool container, which he leaned his back against while sitting on the ground.

‘ _Slaine…_ ’ he then thought and closed his eyes to rest. ‘ _You’re alive… Seylum will be so happy_.’

“Inaho…” the cursed princess said with a raspy voice while holding her hand over the wound on her throat to let her speak. She knelt in front of him on the asphalt while gazing at him with sincere apology in her emerald eyes. “Forgive me for all of this. You look so painfully exhausted.”

“Does … your wound hurt?” the human boy asked and looked down at her throat to let her know what wound he was talking about.

“Yes, but worry not, Inaho,” the cursed princess said and gave the human boy a slight smile. “This will heal once I drink blood.”

“How much do you need?” Inaho asked mechanically and stared at her with exhaustion.

The beautiful cursed girl stared at him for a moment without answering, clearly shocked from the boy’s self-sacrifice. As she parted her pale lips to speak, a heavy boot stomped on the ground between them. Rayet glared at the Versian princess.

“If you need blood, I drank plenty of it earlier before the battle,” she said and then held out her wrist to the cursed princess. “Inaho is my blood sacrifice; you have used him enough.”

Inaho was surprised. He had no idea the vampires could share their blood with each other as well; none of his school books had told him about it, and he had never heard the cursed creatures around him mention it nor seen it happen before. Perhaps it was a last resort? Maybe it had to do with pride? Or could it simply be because of survival?

“R-Rayet…” Inaho said weakly, but was interrupted by a fierce look from the red-haired girl:

“Quiet, blood sacrifice!” she growled. “Our pact is still not fulfilled; the princess isn’t safe yet. Your end of the deal was to never sacrifice blood to her since you were supposed to belong to me. Make no mistake; I allowed you to sacrifice blood to her and her handmaiden, but that was a one-time event!”

Her voice was threatening, as if she was a wolf fiercely protecting its territory.

Seylum smiled slightly:

“You care about him a lot, do you not, Miss Areash?” she asked, but Rayet took a step closer to her – towering over her – and held her wrist in front of the cursed princess’s lips.

“It’s strictly professional. Now, drink,” she commanded, and Seylum finally accepted her unfriendly offer and bit through the cursed girl’s skin and sunk her needlelike teeth into her wrist.

Inaho watched the scene play out before him while the handmaiden kept a lookout for enemies. It was desperate and tender at the same time, with two involuntary allies sharing their strength as they knew they had no other choice. Seylum’s pale face slowly began to look more like a human; her translucent skin got a gentle color to it. Her expression, however, let the brunet know she was in a hazy state, as if Rayet’s blood was a necessary evil rather than something enjoyable and healing.

When the sacrifice had been made, Rayet backed away and collapsed with her back against the container. She held up her wrist and added pressure to it to keep it from bleeding, and she gasped as if breathlessness had come over her despite she had no need to breathe. There was no trace of the venom’s effect the way Inaho knew it; his mistress’s mind seemed to be clear, she was just affected with exhaustion.

When the cursed princess had thanked her sincerely for the sacrifice while wearing an ashamed expression, she sat quietly with slumped shoulders. The blood on her clothing did not suit her at all, Inaho thought briefly while studying her entire being.

“Is there another way to contact your grandfather?” Inaho asked quietly and pushed his tired body up from his slumped position. Seylum looked up at him. “Since the war hasn’t stopped, it’s safe to assume your grandfather never heard you. We need to think of more drastic measures.”

“What would those measures be?” the cursed princess asked and took a deep breath; she seemed to feel as breathless as Rayet. “There is no other way that I can-“ she began, but then an idea seemed to strike her. Inaho waited patiently, giving her the chance to think her thoughts through without interrupting her. Once she seemed to gather her mind, she said: “There is another way. On board Tharsis, the ship I came to Shinawara with, there is a satellite phone. Each fleet has a direct satellite line to the royal palace in Vers to be able to consult my grandfather or receive orders directly from him.”

Inaho’s heart began to bang in his chest.

“If we can get our hands on that phone, we’ll be able to talk to your grandfather directly?” the brunet asked, and watched the beautiful cursed girl nod with great determination. “That also means we’ll have to get on board a ship filled with cursed creatures,” he continued with a warning and watched Seylum’s crease between her eyebrows deepen.

“I am very aware of that,” she said quietly. “However, right now, I have no political value, which means I have nothing to lose. If I have to, I shall go on board Tharsis and face the battle waiting there since we cannot let this war continue.”

“You’re pretty fearless, aren’t you?” Inaho asked and tilted his head slightly.

The cursed princess shook her head.

“That is not true. I am petrified,” she admitted quietly and slumped down into a pathetic figure. She raised her free hand to her chest, trying to calm the undead heart as though it was still beating somewhere in there while she somewhat squeezed the hand covering her throat. “But I cannot sit here and wait for something good to happen, and me being alive guarantees nothing,” she said and looked up at Inaho. “What kind of regrets will I have if I do nothing? I have to try.”

She nearly got tears in her eyes as she stared at the human boy with great sadness contorting her countenance. He words struck a memory in Inaho’s mind, and he remembered his own words back in the school armory when Inko and he had discussed their situation:

“ _Our soldiers were so easily wiped out without a moment’s hesitation… If the same thing happens to us, I am sure we won’t even have time to say our prayers. What kind of regrets will I have in that moment? I can’t bear just sitting and waiting while thinking about … crap like that…_ ”

Inaho smiled at her. There was nothing else he could do as he understood Seylum was thinking the same thing that had spurred Inaho into battle. She had a need to do something to stop the bloodshed and protect her own conscience and the world, being selfish and selfless at the same time. Now, she was prepared to rush in where angels feared to tread; on board a ship filled with monsters that were out to kill her.

“Seylum,” Inaho said. “When do wars end?”

The golden-haired cursed girl raised her eyebrows with bewilderment.

“Huh?”

“Do you know?” the brunet urged.

Seylum lowered her eyes to the ground between her knees where she knelt, and sighed:

“Wars end when their goals are achieved. Territory, resources, interests … ideology, religion, pride… Those are the reasons wars are fought.” She raised her free hand to hold her body as though pain coursed through her.

Inaho reached out a hand to hers resting on her shoulder and gently squeezed it:

“A good answer,” he said gently with warmth in his tone. “The only other way is when so many people are killed that it’s no longer economical.” He turned to look at Rayet, and continued: “Hatred is just a small portion of the reasons why nations go to war with each other. Anger and hatred are only tools to tilt the war in your favor. I’m not interested in those emotions,” he said and put a slight emphasis to his words, and watched the red-haired girl’s somewhat insulted look. “I know I’m asking you to sacrifice your life, but will you help us get that phone?” he asked.

Rayet squeezed her hands into fists, as if she had been cornered. She truly did not appreciate Inaho pointing out her unproductive emotion like that, but the brunet knew he had to try convincing her that she had to let go of her hate toward the cursed princess and work with him for Seylum’s sake.

“Once we get on board Deucalion, we’ll have to figure out a plan,” Inaho said as Rayet refrained from answering him.

The sound of an outboard engine was heard close to the dock, and the four of them looked up toward an orange boat with three UN soldiers.

“They are here,” Eddelrittuo said and Inaho raised the UV-flash light to sign for the crew on board the fast rescue boat where they were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More changes in Asseylum's character, which I hope balances her as a future empress a little more by removing some of the chronic naiveté she suffers from in the anime.
> 
> I had to break this chapter into two shorter parts, since I felt that it would otherwise be too exhausting for me to write due to many details that I have to study first. I hope you enjoyed despite it was shorter than the previous chapters. :3


	18. Childhood’s End – Even Though the Heavens Fall 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter became much longer than I thought, so I decided to split it again. It's in three parts now, but since I promised the previous chapter was the penultimate, I give you a double update. I hope you enjoy!

When the FRB had been brought on board the mother ship Deucalion, and Inaho stepped out of the boat and planted his feet onto the deck in the cargo hold, he took a deep breath and slumped his shoulders. Finally, he was allowed to get out of the bloodied overall and take a quick shower. He believed he had to see the doctor as well since his body felt weak, as if it had been wading in tar for quite some time now. When the adrenaline rush disappeared, it left a exhaustion in its wake.

As Seylum, Rayet and Eddelrittuo came on board as well, the people standing around them were silently staring at them. It was as if the image of the quartet stole their words away, and no one dared to step up and help them. There was no doubt the crew was unsure and terrified of them, and Inaho could agree they must have looked like they had survived and crawled out from a nightmare – which was fairly accurate.

“The captain…” Inaho said exhausted and looked at the crew standing before him. One of them took a step back the moment the blood covered boy spoke, as if a ghost whispered a curse in the man’s ear. “We need to … speak…” the boy continued and took a deep breath to calm his trembling body. “… the captain.”

“W-we were ordered to apprehend you, Kaizuka Inaho, for busting that cursed girl out of her cell,” a woman dressed in a soldier uniform said. “And the c-cursed girl is to be put in the brig again.”

“I will not go with you willingly,” Inaho heard the red-haired girl hiss next to him. “If you want to detain me and Kaizuka Inaho, I suggest you prepare yourselves for a fight.”

Rayet’s words seemed to be absolute; no one dared to voice the captain’s supposed order a second time, nor dared anyone argue with her. The human soldiers were terrified of her. As Inaho threw a glance at the cursed girl standing next to him, he could understand why no one dared to say a word back to her; the entire she was dark with dry blood that had begun to flake off of her skin and clothes, and her eyes burned like a haunting monster’s. Inaho must have looked similar; he could feel how the dry blood cracked and crumbled off of him as he moved. The same view waited for those who turned to look at Seylum and her handmaiden.

“Bring the captain,” the broken voice of Seylum said while she held her hand over the bullet wound on her throat. It had probably not healed entirely yet. “We need to speak to her. It is highly urgent.”

As no one said a world, Rayet took a step forward and stomped with a powerful step against the cargo bay’s deck, and growled:

“Bring the captain!”

Everyone took several steps back at the threat being thrown at them, and a low-ranking officer raised his hand to the radio headset:

“C-Captain Magbaredge… The princess, her handmaiden, Mr. Kaizuka and Miss Areash are on board. They r-request to see you in the hangar immediately.”

Inaho looked to his mistress and asked quietly:

“So, you’ll help us?” he asked, and Rayet turned to look at him, still with fury burning in her eyes.

“You said it yourself: Our pact was that you would supply me with blood until the princess is in safety. Even if our pact was about the delivery of the princess to the UN, it changed somewhere on the line. In short: The princess isn’t safe yet,” she answered and turned to keep an eye on the crew again. “I owe you my help and you owe me your blood.”

“Sorry about that,” the brunet said and looked at Rayet’s red hair that was sticky with dry blood. “The situation became more complex once we got to South Korea, which changed our deal.”

Rayet scoffed.

“Don’t worry about it; I like owning you,” she said with a sneer. Inaho was uncertain if she was teasing him or being serious. “I’ve never had my own blood sacrifice before, and I don’t want to give that up just yet.”

“Are you being serious or not?” the human boy asked confused, but Rayet decided not to answer him.

As time passed, the determined sound of sharp heels against the metal deck reached the brunet’s ears, and he looked up toward the watertight door to see Captain Magbaredge, Yuki, Inko and the captain’s executive officer enter the cargo bay.

Inko looked as if she had been crying recently, and as she saw Inaho she stopped walking and stared at him with terrified eyes. The executive officer took a hold of the girl’s shoulder and pushed her in front of her. Inko seemed to be in some kind of custody, which did not surprise the boy since she had been an accomplice to help Rayet escape the brig.

Yuki fixed her eyes on her brother and did not even blink as she walked closer. Inaho had time to notice she had been determined to be angry at him, but, as she now saw him in the state he was in, the anger faltered and morphed into worry. The sister’s eyebrows knitted together as she tried to understand what she was looking at and, as she finally understood Inaho was covered in blood, her eyes widened from utter shock.

“Welcome back,” the captain said and stared at the quartet with stern eyes, but even she was affected by the sight and struggled to hold up her façade of an angry officer. “How are you feeling, Your Highness?” she asked Seylum.

“I was wounded during battle, but am healing,” the raspy chirp said next to Inaho. “More importantly, Inaho is worse off and needs to be tended to.”

Gratitude spread in the human boy’s tired heart and mind, as if her sole words were comforting and supporting.

The captain looked at Inaho.

“Are you hurt?” she asked, but the brunet shook his head.

“No. I’m just exhausted…” he said honestly with a silent voice while he fought against the trembles that shook his limbs.

Even his fingers were quivering, which probably meant the shock he spoke about was slowly catching up to him. He could almost feel it drag itself over his sanity, like a monster crawling with the aid of sharp claws that cut into his brain while paying no heed to whatever sensitive nerves it scratched and snipped off on its way to his heart.

“N-Nao…” Yuki whispered and raised her hands to her lips. She wanted to run up to him and hold him, but he probably looked horrific enough that the vision of him scared her into keeping distance.

“What you and Miss Amifumi have done is considered a serious crime. I believe you were aware of that during that time,” the captain continued.

Inaho could not stop trembling, and his condition began to worsen. The shock was near.

“I-I knew,” admitted the brunet and raised his arms to hold himself. The chips of dry blood fell around him like rusty snowflakes. “And I take responsibility once … we’re safe…”

“Captain…” Yuki said quietly while she kept staring at her brother. “I think you should reprimand him later; he’s not feeling well.”

The silence was heavy while the captain stared at the older of the two Kaizukas. The boy felt grateful for his sister stepping in and protecting him like that; he could not take responsibility right now. He was far too weak for that.

‘ _These emotions…_ ’ he thought and took a deep breath as he began to feel a similar kind of oppressive feeling as he had felt the day before in the armory; he was about to panic. ‘ _They’re uncontrollable. They’ll wither me._ ’ He was crumbling, and it was soon to become acute.

The captain then finally sighed, and said:

“Very well. Kaizuka Junior, you shall be put in arrest and will get medical care there.”

Inaho knew the captain had all the right to apprehend him for what he had done, but his mind would not take it now. He wanted to go home rather than be on board an aircraft carrier. He wanted to lie down in his own bed instead of lying down on a bunk bed. He wanted to sit down next to the desk in his room and do homework and not be put in a cell.

He wanted his ordinary life back.

The moment those wishes rushed through the boy’s mind, his knees shook and finally gave way beneath him, and he fell onto all four on the deck. He breathed heavily to control the slowly erupting panic and raised a hand to grasp his throat that felt tight. A gentle hand began rubbing his back, and, when he opened his eyes and looked up, he saw Seylum look at him with kind eyes. She pitied him and offered him the little support she had to give, and her touch was warm despite her cold and undead hand.

“I won’t let you have him yet,” Rayet growled and lowered her stance as she glared at the captain. “We have a last mission to do, and we need your help,” the vampire said. “If you won’t cooperate, I’ll have to take drastic measures.”

“You do realize you are threatening the captain?!” the executive officer exclaimed and stared at the cursed girl.

“I’m aware of that, and I don’t care!” Rayet yelled angrily. “I thought I told you a while back I don’t answer to her since I’m not one of you!”

The atmosphere was heavy in the hangar. The humans were lost at what to do now that a cursed creature was ready to fight them while they were unprepared.

“What kind of mission are you talking about?” Captain Magbaredge asked quietly. She seemed to slowly give in to Rayet’s demand – perhaps out of fear, or maybe because she knew she had no choice.

“Th-!” the cursed red-haired girl began, but Inaho interrupted her with a trembling voice:

“On board an enemy ship … there is a satellite phone directly connected to the royal palace…” He took a deep breath before he continued. “We need to … get on board a ship called Tharsis if possible…”

“I can’t let you do that!” he heard his sister yell immediately. “I’m not letting you get out there to die on board an enemy ship, Nao!”

“This is war…” the brunet whispered, but was interrupted by his sister’s stomping steps that rushed up to him, and strong hands picked him up from the floor and raised his weak body back onto his feet. He stared into Yuki’s teary eyes.

“Exactly!” she yelled right in front of his face. She was angry. “Why are you always like this?!”

“How…?” the brunet asked somewhat confused, but had a hunch he already knew.

She was angry because she did not share the same thoughts as Inaho did; she never did things that had to be done if she wished not to, while Inaho had always done things that had to be done without a second thought or with no emotional value.

“How can you say something so outlandish with a straight face?! You mean to rush into an enemy fortress to be a supporting blood sacrifice for Rayet and the princess, right?!”

“As we are now, Seylum has no political value,” he answered quietly. “She is strong, however, which gives us plenty of support, and we have-”

“Do you understand what might happen to you if you are taken captive?! They’ll lock you up and suck you dry, and god knows what else they’ll do to you before that!”

“Stop…”

“You’ll die in there!”

“More will die if we won’t try…”

“Damn it, Inaho! Listen to what I’m telling you!” Yuki nearly screamed and shook him angrily. “You’ve always been the kid who doesn’t fear touching a hot stove because you’ve never seen one before! Do you even understand what an enemy ship is?!”

“Sis… Stop,” the boy gasped, feeling frustrated as he knew what she was trying to tell him.

“If you go on board a ship filled with vampires, you’ll get burnt so badly that you won’t-!”

“I know what I’m doing!” Inaho finally yelled and pushed his sister away from him. The rusty-colored snow kept falling around him as he staggered and was caught by Rayet to support him. “I’m sorry, Yuki-nee,” the boy then continued and looked at his sister. “But I think we need to go all-in on whatever method offers a chance of success right now. There’s nothing else we can do…”

Yuki stared at him with shock. Inaho had never lashed out at her like that before. Guilt plucked on Inaho’s heartstrings and made them quiver unpleasantly, but he could not waver.

“Nao…”

“I’m aware I’ll probably die or be tortured by the enemy if they catch me, but I’m most likely the only one who is willing to go in there and offer Rayet, Seylum and Eddelrittuo my support,” the brunet said and stared at his sister’s shocked face that slowly turned angry again.

“Then I’ll go with you!” she said. “You once told me you can’t fight this war alone. This time, I’ll go with you!”

“No,” the boy answered immediately.

“I won’t take no for an answer, Inaho!” the older Kaizuka said sternly. “Do I matter so little to you, Nao, that you won’t let me support you even when you begged me to support you a while back?”

“It’s because you matter that I-“

“And that is my reason as well!” his older sister argued. “It’s because you matter that I don’t want to let you go in there alone!”

There was nothing else to say. Inaho could only stare at his sister with defeat; she had decided to go with him and nothing would stop her. The hangar was silent while the raging explosions growled outside from the battle raging at sea and in the sky.

“Captain?” Yuki said and turned to look at Magbaredge. “I ask for permission to assist the princess on her mission.”

‘ _Idiot…_ ’ the brunet thought and stared at his sister. The feeling of panic began to subside somewhat, and he sighed and hung his head with a defeated smile on his lips. ‘ _I can’t stop you…_ ’

“Me too…!” a girl said with a nervous voice. “Let me go, too!”

Everyone looked up at Inko, who stood with her hands formed into tight fists at her sides. Her eyes had a determined light in them, but the rest of her countenance was afraid of the mission.

“Inko…” the brunet whispered and met the girl’s gaze.

†††

The battle in the sky had begun to calm down; most aircrafts had turned back to reload while the rest had been shot down. Only a handful of Versian aircrafts were still up and unintentionally kept the blond boy company, which was not a surprise since the Versian air force was probably the strongest and skilled in the world. The old Russian aircrafts from before the nation had become cursed, had put the foundation for the modern Versian aircrafts, and prompted the nation to build their fighters like tanks that would get the job done. Only recently had the nation decided to invest in fine clockwork builds such as the F-35 series. During the Nightfall war, the cursed had stolen Western technology after they had conquered small areas in the West, and brought back the spoils of war to be able to meet the future conditions of modern warfare.

‘ _Where has she gone?_ ’ Slaine thought and looked at the ground for the princess while flying around the harbor. Only cursed creatures and human soldiers could be seen – dead or alive.

The boy realized he had lost sight of his secretly beloved Asseylum and cursed beneath his breath while his heart stung horribly. The control panel warned him about his fuel running low, and the boy had to make the heavy decision of turning back toward Dioscuria.

Reluctantly, he pulled the control stick to steer his aircraft back to the mother ship, and he placed a hand over his chest in an attempt to soothe his heart. It hurt badly enough he wished he could put his hands inside his ribcage and hold the organ tenderly and protect it from whatever demons that were about to devour it. The flight had been too stressful, and, suddenly, the boy felt old and worn now that his heart was ill; he was forced to change his entire life according to his heart disease.

No more stress.

No more terror.

No more battles.

‘ _As long as I’m with the vampires, it’ll be impossible…_ ’ the boy thought and sighed carefully to not agitate his heart.

As Dioscuria came into view, the boy wished he could release a relieved breath, but the ship was nothing but a trying place for him. It was not his home, yet it was the only place he had where he could stay. To coexist with the one responsible for this mindless war was a pure joke on fate’s part; Slaine hated Saazbaum, yet he could not escape him or deal judgment on him.

During his flight, his heart began to protest further to the point the pain reached his arms. He felt lightheaded and nauseous, and he gasped to compensate the unpleasant sensation of breathlessness. It felt similar to the time in Cruhteo’s torture chamber, and it worried him greatly.

“Troyard to V.E.S. Dioscuria flight control,” he gasped in the radio as he finally reached the mother ship.

“ _Dioscuria to Troyard. We hear you_ ,” a voice answered.

“Requesting to land on flight deck,” Slaine sighed.

“ _Granted. You may land immediately_ ,” the voice in the radio answered, and Slaine ordered the aircraft to begin hovering.

The fuel tanks were empty enough he had the proper weight to do a vertical landing, and as he activated the STOVL system, the hot blast from the engine and hovering system stirred up small water particles from the sea below him and created a mist that surrounded him. Once the aircraft was steadily hovering next to the ship, the boy steered it toward the runway. The flight deck crew ran away to take cover from the hot jet blast, and once Slaine hovered above the deck, he commanded the aircraft to descend. Landing this way put no strain on his heart compared to the normal landing, and the STOVL system relieved him greatly now that his heart protested so violently.

As the F-35B stood steadily on the flight deck, he hurried to open the canopy and pulled off the helmet and mask covering his face. Weakly, he strapped himself lose from the seat belts and took a deep breath of the acrid smell of burnt chemicals before he pushed his body to stand. Crew ran toward him and someone scolded him for not parking the aircraft at its designated place.

“Forgive me,” Slaine sighed and leaned against the aircraft on both arms and hung his head. “I can’t seem to … find the health to…”

He felt as if he was about to break down into a cry. The weakness overwhelmed him and the heartache scared him. To explain why he was unable to park the aircraft was too much right now; he simply wanted to be left alone and rest without having to argue about it with someone who had no insight on what was going on with him. They were undead; they had no heart attacks to worry about.

“Damn it,” someone cursed. “The flight deck has melted. Dioscuria hasn’t gotten the upgraded flight deck it needs to handle the F-35’s yet?”

“No, only Tharsis and Herschel has gotten their decks upgraded this far,” another answered.

‘ _I’m sorry…_ ’ Slaine could not hold back his tears anymore. He closed the canopy, locked it and curled up on the seat, hugging his knees like a frightened child as the world around him became surreal and overwhelmingly difficult. As the flight deck crew knocked on the canopy, Slaine buried his face against his knees and slumped against the backrest of the seat, and covered his head with his arms. ‘ _Leave me alone!_ ’ he thought and whimpered. ‘ _Asseylum… Where are you? I can’t take this anymore. I’m sorry I lost sight of you once again! I’m so sorry!_ ’

“ _Open up!_ ” he heard a crewmember say from outside the canopy, and Slaine stubbornly shook his head in protest. “ _Pilot, open the canopy!_ ”

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” the boy finally yelled.

The outburst made the crew outside the aircraft go silent and stare at the boy with confusion. Slaine did not expect the crew knew how to deal with an obstinate child, and he put no blame on them if they decided to scold him even if it was highly discomforting.

The frustration that flared up made his heart feel like its heartstrings were snapped one by one. If he was to die, he wanted to be left alone and not be bothered by anyone. He had no wish to die yet since he had not fulfilled his mission of saving his secretly beloved princess, but if his heart was to give up now, then, at least, he wanted to die alone without the cursed monsters swarming around him.

‘ _Go away! I don’t want to see you! I don’t want to be reminded of where I am!_ ’ he thought and pulled at his hair when he began to cry louder as the crewmember outside refused to leave.

Voices were heard from somewhere outside the hull of the aircraft, and then everything went quiet. Slaine kept crying, wishing that he would finally be left alone. The boy got his wish; the crew disappeared from around the aircraft after some metallic sounds had been heard. The crew had probably anchored the aircraft to the spot to prevent it from slipping off the deck if the ship would be struck by a large wave. The blood sacrifice did not bother wondering why the crew left him; he was simply grateful.

There, in his solitude, Slaine was left alone – and there, with neither shame nor pride, he cried himself to sleep while hoping his heart would not give up.

†††

Yuki was wiping him over his cheek, gently trying to wash away the dried blood from her brother’s face with a cloth. She looked pale and nervous while she silently helped him to clean the blood off, and Inaho decided not to say anything either. He knew his sister was angry at him for what he was about to do, and he knew she probably felt anxious of losing him as well.

‘ _I’m sorry, sis_ ,’ he thought and closed his tired eyes to accept his sister’s treatment and rest while the sacrificed blood was being replaced with new.

The captain had not been pleased with what had been said in the hangar. She had been arguing with Inaho and the cursed girls, who had been forced to threaten to attack the crew on board the ship in the end in order to have her agree with their plan. Inaho was reluctant to the measures they had to take in order to get the equipment they needed to act out their suicidal plan. To threaten the crew and use their lives as collateral in a deal was bordering on the boy’s lower limit of what was acceptable.

‘ _But the captain didn’t give us a choice_ ,’ Inaho thought and squeezed his eyes tightly shut as Yuki wiped the bridge of his nose. ‘ _Our ships are kept prisoners by the surrounding enemy fleets, and no one wants to fight this war with everything they got; everyone’s just being afraid_.’

The enemy had been waiting for the UN ships out at sea and forced them to halt. The humans had nowhere to go and the situation was tense between the two sides. All enemy cannons and turrets were directed at the human ships, and no one knew – except the officers in charge – what was being said over the radio between the humans and cursed.

Inaho suspected the enemy wanted to board the human ships mainly to search for their princess, but also to take the humans as their blood sacrifices. It was not impossible the human rights that the emperor had declared for blood sacrifices did not mattered anymore; it could be that whoever was the ringleader decided to let each vampire own their own blood sacrifice, who had no choice but to give their new master blood whenever the cursed wanted it.

‘ _We’ll be taken to Vers’ human colonies and be eaten if nothing happens to our favor_ ,’ the brunet thought frustrated. He disliked the idea of him having to force himself to participate in a plan that would most likely lead to his death since no one else dared to risk their life. He was just a child… Then again, he had to be fair and admit those who were afraid had all the right to be. No one was supposed to risk their life if they were unwilling to do so; no one was allowed to force anyone to die with an order or by persuasion. ‘ _Just like Rayet said back in Shinawara…_ ’

Inaho could remember Calm’s angry glare as the boy had yelled at him for not saving the blood sacrifice and leaving him in the truck in the tunnel back in the boys’ hometown. Now, Inaho had learned the blood sacrifice’s name and even spoken to him, and decided he would try saving him if he could.

‘ _Back then I wasn’t prepared to die for him_ ,’ the brunet thought while Yuki wiped his forehead and temples. ‘ _But now, I guess I might do that…_ ’

“Excuse me,” he heard Inko’s voice say, and Inaho opened his eyes and looked toward the door with Yuki. “Can I come in?”

“Yes, of course,” Yuki said with a kind smile.

Inko blushed.

“Um…” she mumbled and poked her index fingers together while looking embarrassed. “C-can I speak to Inaho alone?”

Yuki nodded and threw a glance at Inaho, and whispered to him with a grin:

“You womanizer…”

“You’ve got it wro-“ Inaho began to correct her, but Yuki walked up to Inko and said smiling:

“You kids take your time. No desperate virginity riddance before battle, though,” his sister grinned and disappeared, leaving Inko hovering in the door opening with a terrible blush on her cheeks.

Inaho heard on his sister’s voice she was keeping herself from falling into a cry. Her inappropriate joke had probably been a way to mask her sorrow of what they were about to do as soon as the captain had gathered information about the enemy and prepared a FRB for them.

“What was it you wanted to speak about?” Inaho asked and watched Inko step into the room with hesitant steps. Yuki’s words must have still been ringing in her ears.

“I…” she mumbled and walked up to Inaho. She hesitated and looked at everything but Inaho, and then stared at the cloth Yuki had used to clean the dry blood off from Inaho’s face. It was floating in a bowl with bloodied water. The girl took the bowl and poured the dirty water out in the sink in the corner of the room in the sickbay, washed the cloth and filled the bowl with new and warm water. “You aren’t angry, are you?” she then asked as she put the bowl back on the small van next to Inaho’s seat.

“For what?” the brunet wondered.

Inko wrenched the cloth and then dabbed it on Inaho’s left jaw to wash away the blood Yuki had missed.

“For me coming with you?” the girl asked quietly, as though she was afraid to ask the question and, by that, remind the boy of what she was about to do.

Inaho stared at her without blinking as an important question floated in his mind and urged his tongue and lips to move, and he asked:

“You’re not doing it for me, are you?” Inko dropped the cloth onto Inaho’s arm, which was connected to a bag of blood by a cannula. Inaho kept looking at her as the girl blushed again. “It would be a waste of your life if you-“

“No,” the girl interrupted him and looked up at him with a sincere expression. “I’m not doing it for you. I’m doing it for the world and for my parents who are probably dead.”

“Do you promise?” the brunet asked. He knew she was telling him a white lie.

Inko did not answer at first. She picked up the cloth and washed it off in the bowl, and then continued dabbing the brunet’s jaw and then his neck. Inaho waited patiently. The girl was gentle and careful when she washed him, afraid of accidentally hurting him in case he had a wound beneath all that dry blood. Then she stopped and rested her hand on his shoulder, staring at the bite marks on his neck.

“They … bit you again?” she asked with a trembling voice.

“Seylum and Eddelrittuo needed blood to be able to fight,” the boy answered with honesty.

“Because sacrifices have to be made or nothing will change?” Inko asked and looked at the boy. “Didn’t you say that yesterday in the staircase?” Inaho nodded. “You might be addicted to their venom now…”

“Probably,” the boy said and suddenly felt like he wanted to crawl up in his chair and hug his knees. By admitting the possibility of the addiction with spoken words, he felt how real it suddenly became. He was in the risk of being addicted to something destructive and only time would tell if he would need a vampire’s bite to stay sane – if he lived for that long. “It’s fine,” he then said as an attempt to calm himself rather than his childhood friend.

“It’s not fine!” the girl said loudly and tears gathered in her eyes as she looked at him. “We might die tonight and if we’re lucky enough to survive, you’ll be a wreck for the rest of your life! How can that be fine?!”

“This is a-“

“War, right?!” the girl cried and her tears finally dripped from her chin. Her shrill voice attacked not only Inaho’s ears, but his conscience as well. He stared at her, surprised from her sudden outburst. “That’s what you always say…” she said and did not bother drying her tears away. She exposed them for him without shame, forcing the boy look at the drops running down her cheeks.

“What else is there to say?” the brunet asked quietly to not stress her further.

“I don’t want you to be an addict! I don’t want you to sacrifice yourself for unknown people! I can’t bear to see a vampire bite you and drain you!” she yelled with obvious frustration.

“Inko…” the boy said with a whisper. “If no one does this, you’ll see plenty of those you love go down that kind of path before it’s your turn,” the boy then said, and Inko hung her head. “You know they’ll board us soon enough and eat us all or take us captive. If we won’t try to fight them before they do that, we will die a meaningless death out here. We won’t be allowed to take care of our own who have died, and won’t even get proper graves; they’ll just dump our bodies into the sea when they’re finished with us.”

Inko must have known he was right as she began to cry uncontrollably. She threw herself around his neck and hugged him tightly while collapsing and crying against his shoulder. The seat Inaho was sitting in rattled from the sudden impact of their bodies colliding, and the bowl of water was knocked down from the van. It clattered from hitting with the floor and the softly red water spread across the plastic mat, splashing over Inaho’s and Inko’s military boots.

“But why you?” the girl cried and sobbed. Her fingers buried in the boy’s hair that was a mess from the dry blood. “You’re just a child…”

‘ _So, you are coming along for me…_ ’ the brunet concluded. ‘ _You’re being brave for me._ ’

“You should stay here,” the boy said, but the girl shook her head.

“No! If you go, I go, too!”

‘ _I’m sorry_ ,’ Inaho thought and leaned his face against her shoulder as well. ‘ _I don’t love you the way you seem to love me. Don’t waste your life on me because of love_.’

“Thank you,” the brunet whispered. “But I really think you should reconsider coming along.”

“I’ve made up my mind. You won’t be able to change it,” the girl said and held him tenderly while she sobbed. “I’m coming with you. If you don’t want me to die, you better come up with a good plan that will keep us all safe. You’re good at that.”

Inaho knew he had to give in. She had decided, she said. That was all there was to it. If she wanted to sacrifice her life, then she was allowed to do so. She was average with handling guns, but her physique was one of the best Inaho had seen among his classmates back in school. She was sturdy and strong, had durable stamina and incredibly strong willpower when her endurance faltered.

The teenagers stayed like that for a while; the girl holding the boy. Inko continued sobbing against Inaho’s shoulder and the boy tried to comfort her by letting her cry against him. After a while, a knock was heard on the door and Inko quickly let go of the brunet and backed away. When both of the youngsters looked toward the door, Yuki stood there with a saddened smile on her lips:

“Sorry to interrupt you, but the captain is calling us to the briefing room. We have information about Tharsis, and now we need to make up a plan,” she said, and Inaho nodded and removed the cannula carefully from his arm, and then rose up to follow his sister along with Inko.

‘ _It’s time_ ,’ he thought and saw Rayet, Seylum and Eddelrittuo wait for the humans further down the corridor. Everyone looked tired, but they were all determined. ‘ _We have to succeed_.’

†††

A voice called for him somewhere in the distance and the blond boy was stirred and released a quiet noise as he woke up and opened his eyes. He found himself in the cockpit of an aircraft and the air was cold and silent around him. The battle seemed to have come to a momentary halt. The world outside the transparent enclosure had gone dark and was obscured by condensation from the boy’s breaths, and the aircraft rocked gently as the ship heeled from the waves. Slaine realized he was slightly trembling from the low temperature and moist air that had crawled in under his uniform.

He raised his hands to rub the sleepiness away from his face and felt his cheeks greedily taste the heat of his palms, when a voice said from somewhere outside:

“ _Slaine?_ ”

It was the deep voice of his new master. Saazbaum was standing outside the aircraft, waiting for Slaine to acknowledge his presence. The boy stayed silent and held his breath. This was an awkward situation; he had thrown a tantrum earlier and locked himself inside the protective canopy of a fighter jet, and now his master was probably trying to talk him out of there the same way a grownup would talk to a rebellious teenager who had locked themselves in their room. It was embarrassing and shameful, Slaine thought, and found no action to take.

“ _Wake up, boy. You cannot stay out here through the night; the cold will claim you_ ,” he heard Saazbaum say loudly enough that his muffled voice was heard clearly inside the cockpit.

Slaine knew he could not stay silent and pretend he was a ghost. His master needed an answer and he should give it.

As he pushed his tired body up from the seat where he had been curled up, he noticed how exhausted he actually was. It strained him to move all together, as if all his muscles twinged from weakness, begging and crying for him to let them continue resting.

The moment he wiped away the condensation on the canopy to look outside the darkened world, he saw Saazbaum stand there with a hand resting on the cane of noble and looking up at the aircraft with a relaxed expression. The cursed man did not seem to be angry, which gave the human boy a little more courage to unlock the canopy and open it. The sea wind immediately blew through his hair, made it dance softly as the currents brushed through his silky strands.

“How are you feeling?” the cursed count asked calmly. Saazbaum did not seem to be angry.

Slaine tried to blink the tiredness away from his eyes and felt a sting in them each time his eyelids closed. Tears sprung to his eyes from the sleepiness and he wiped the wetness away with weak fingers.

“I…” he said quietly with a raspy voice, ashamed of having his master look after him like this. “Forgive me, I-“ It was impossible to figure out what to say to the cursed man and he interrupted himself to let his mind process this uncomfortable situation.

“How are you feeling, boy?” Saazbaum asked again, and Slaine stared at him while he began to feel stressed.

“W-weak, my lord,” he said nervously.

“What happened?” the cursed man then asked. A wind took hold of his burgundy coattails and made them flutter in the air.

Slaine did not know what to answer. He was not sure himself. What had happened?

“I…” the human boy began and frowned as he tried to identify what reason had made him lock himself up in the canopy. “I am not sure. I was anxious and … my heart hurt a lot…”

“Perhaps I was too eager to let you take action,” the cursed count said. “Come down from there. Let the crew handle the aircraft. You need to eat something and take your medication.”

Slaine lowered his gaze from shame and whispered “Yes, my lord,” and slowly and carefully climbed down from the aircraft. As he walked up to his lord, Saazbaum ordered the crew to park the aircraft in the hangar below and then put a protective hand between the boy’s shoulder blades to gently guide him inside the ship and to Slaine’s cabin. The blood sacrifice, who had taken care of the human boy during his stay on Dioscuria, was waiting inside the room and greeted the boy with a relieved smile.

“My lord,” Slaine hurried to say when Saazbaum was about to leave. The cursed count stopped and looked over his shoulder at the boy. “Forgive me if I intrude on private matters, but why did you let me go out there?”

Saazbaum’s eyes had no change in emotion; he looked at the boy sternly but with gentle worry, and the man answered:

“To know what I am investing my time and effort in. Rest well, Slaine Troyard,” he said and left Slaine’s cabin.

‘ _What?_ ’ Slaine stared at the burgundy back of the cursed count before the door was closed. ‘ _What are you going to do with me?_ ’ the boy then thought and looked at the servant who was preparing the bathroom so the blond could take a shower.

“Excuse me,” he said carefully and watched the other blood sacrifice turn around and look at him with a gentle smile. One of the soft bath towels hung over his arm.

“Yes, young lord?”

“Do you know what Saazbaum is going to do with me?” Slaine asked as he decided to be blunt. He was tired of beating around the bush. “Why is he investing time and effort in me?”

The servant stared at him with vigilance, as if Slaine was touching something the older male was aware of, and the blond immediately understood the other blood sacrifice had knowledge about Saazbaum’s reasons.

“I am afraid our lord is not ready to reveal that yet,” the servant answered, and Slaine felt downhearted. “However, do not feel alarmed. I believe he has your best interest in mind.”

“But … why me?” the boy asked and leaned against the door frame tiredly. “I’m just a blood sacrifice with a heart condition.”

The servant put on the shower to heat up the water gushing out from the nozzle and prepared a pajama set for the boy.

“Who knows, young lord?” he said and smiled toward Slaine. The boy got the feeling the servant knew what was going on, but had been ordered to stay silent about it. “He seems to believe you are more than a blood sacrifice. I am sure he will let you know soon enough.”

‘ _It worries me…_ ’ the blond thought, but kept his thoughts to himself.

“Shall I help you clean your wounds and put the plastic adhesives on for you?” the older blood sacrifice then asked, and Slaine sighed and nodded. “You need to take your medication as well.”

“Yes, thank you,” he whispered and began undressing while the servant brought the medication and necessities to help the blond boy prepare for a shower.

‘ _I don’t like what is going on_ ,’ Slaine thought and swallowed the heart medication he was given. He then let the servant carefully remove his damp uniform jacket. ‘ _What are you thinking, Saazbaum? Why are you doing all this?_ ’

“By the way,” Slaine said and frowned from shame. “I didn’t catch your name when you introduced yourself. I … was in a panicked state…”

“Oh, I have lenience for that,” the servant said and smiled as he were to introduce himself.

†††

“Stay right behind the ship,” Yuki whispered to Calm, who steered the small FRB boat toward the magnificent ship Seylum had said was called Tharsis. “Just float closer with low speed. Blend in with the wreckage from the aircrafts and other rubble; it should protect us from them noticing us on their radar.”

“It’s so huge…” Inko whispered with a trembling breath, gripping the handle where she sat on the lid covering the water jet engine.

The big ship was like a large shadow in the darkness of the early November night, floating there like an ominous ghost. It sent a chill down the spine on the four humans on board the small boat, who could not see it as well as the three cursed creatures sitting next to them.

They had learned, from observation data collected by the captain, Tharsis’s deck was filled with aircrafts but no crew had been seen on deck ever since it had arrived. The air around the ship had been much like it had been abandoned, which could not possibly be the case since it was present in the attacked area. It was damaged, it seemed – as if a missile had hit its hull; a large gaping hole was visible right above the waterline on the ship’s port side.

The air was chilly and everyone was dressed in warm clothes. The cursed girls had – just like the humans – been properly dressed in armored military uniforms. They had also gotten enough blood in their bodies to keep them warm during their slow and sneaking travel toward Tharsis, and it had given them power enough to fight for a while before they needed a new sacrifice. The humans were armed with different kinds of grenades hanging from a belt strapped across their torso and waist, and they were also armed with UV-flash lights and guns.

Several small carbon dioxide fire extinguishers lay in a bag, which they would use as a way to drive the cursed creatures away in case they dropped their flash lights or needed something more to push the vampires back. Yuki had joked about the extinguishers as if they were pepper spray, but for cursed creatures.

They reached the aft of the ship and Calm gently nudged the nose of their boat against the aircraft carrier’s hull and added a little thrust to keep it stable against it. Rayet picked up the rope with a hook and swung it around a couple of times before throwing it up to the platform placed in the middle of the ship’s aft, and it immediately hooked onto something.

After Rayet pulled the rope a couple of times to make sure it was secure, she raised a backpack onto her back and strapped it firmly onto her torso. Then she nodded to the others and began climbing.

“It’s like we’re pirates,” Yuki whispered childishly, desperately trying to keep the others’ minds a little lighter than they currently were. Perhaps she was trying to pull down the level of seriousness of what they were doing to calm her own mind as well by kidding about their situation.

“Stay focused,” Inaho said and watched Rayet climb with strong arms. The strength of a vampire was impressive in so many ways; Rayet was quickly on board the enemy ship and disappeared somewhere behind the edge of the platform, and soon the rope ladder she had carried with her in the backpack was dropped down to the boat.

The princess and her handmaiden began climbing the ladder, and as Inaho was about to follow them, Yuki took a hold of his arm and pulled him into an embrace. The small boat rocked from the sudden shift of mass on board it, and Inaho felt her brush him through his newly washed hair and hold him dearly.

“I love you. Don’t forget that,” she said with a whisper.

“I know, sis,” the boy answered quietly. “We should get moving.”

“Let me hold you, damn it,” Yuki hissed and tightened her arms around him. “This might be the last time I get to do that.”

Inaho was defeated by those words and stayed in her embrace without protesting. Instead, he raised his arms to place his hands on her back to hold her back. The siblings stayed like that for a little while, sensing each other’s warmth and savored it. They had always been a small family of two – just the two of them, surviving together. Ever since they were children, they had supported each other and helped each other whenever the other were in need. Yuki had fought for Inaho and he had fought for her – and now, they would fight together.

“If we come back alive, we should cut your hair,” his sister said as she brushed his dark mane. “It’s getting long.” Inaho simply nodded and branded the feeling of her embrace into his memory in case he would be the only one of the Kaizuka siblings to return to Deucalion, and he hoped Yuki did the same. Even if Yuki could be annoying, she was still a good sister and the only family he had; he would never want to forget how her embrace felt. “Let’s go, then,” Yuki finally sighed with a trembling breath, as if she had been close to crying.

“Give ‘em hell,” Calm whispered with a saddened smile and held his thumb up.

Yuki nodded and then began climbing toward where the cursed girls waited, and Inaho turned to look at Inko. She looked at him and nodded, and then began climbing after Yuki.

“You all sure are crazy,” Calm said and looked at his friend.

The rope Rayet had used to climb up dropped down and Inaho prepared the bag with the extinguishers to be heaved on board.

“Make sure to drift slowly away from the ship once you leave,” the brunet told his friend and pulled the knot of the ripe tightly around the straps on the bag, before he signaled for Rayet to pull the bag up. “We won’t be able to call you from inside the ship, but stay close if you can to aid us once we manage to contact you. If you have a hunch of being discovered, just leave.”

Calm nodded and looked at Inaho with a heavy frown as the brunet took a hold of the ladder and was about to climb, but then called him back:

“Hey.” Inaho stopped and looked over his shoulder. Calm smiled, and said: “Good luck, buddy. Don’t get killed, okay?”

The brunet nodded and began climbing up the ladder. He heard Calm steer the boat away from the ship, and he soon had sea beneath him. Yuki helped him on board and they began preparing their gear and making sure everything functioned one last time before entering.

“Eddelrittuo has gone inside the ship. She’s securing the proximity,” Rayet said as she handed out the small extinguishers. Inaho, Yuki and Inko pulled out the safety pin and strapped them onto their backs. “I can’t hear any movements from inside the ship other than the usual sounds of machinery,” she continued.

“You think it’s abandoned entirely?” Yuki whispered and walked closer to the watertight door and peeked inside.

“Someone must have sailed it here,” Inaho said and got up to walk over to his sister as well. “Besides, the aircrafts are still on board; I doubt the enemy would simply leave them.”

“Either way, it is highly convenient for us if the ship is empty,” Seylum said.

“If it’s a coincidence, then yes,” Inaho whispered and listened closely for unexpected sounds. “But it might as well be a trap.”

“You think the cursed would think of us as brave?” Inko asked quietly next to Inaho.

“No, but we should still stay on our guard,” the brunet said, and finally they saw Eddelrittuo wave for them far at the end of what turned out to be the aviation jet engine shop.

The area was secured.

Rayet and Seylum hurried after the brave handmaiden with light steps before the humans would follow them.

“All right,” Yuki sighed with nervousness to Inaho and Inko. “Remember: We’re all on our own. Keep as much of a distance as possible if we’re attacked; let the cursed take care of the hand-to-hand battle. We’re just their support. If you’re attacked, use the flash light, and if you’re cornered, use the extinguisher. Inko, you’re in charge of the radio communication between us, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the girl answered.

Inaho drew his gun and signed for everyone to do the same, and then stepped through the watertight door and entered the ship. The large workshop was deathly quiet.

‘ _Gallery deck_ ,’ Inaho reminded himself as he walked down the aviation workshop. They were on main deck at the moment and the huge hangar was further up ahead. ‘ _According to Seylum, it’s three decks above us_.’

†††

The blond boy was slumbering in bed, trying to sleep. Try as he might, it was impossible due to his thoughts running wild. He had gotten enough sleep in the aircraft, which also contributed to his somewhat awakened state that would not give way for sleep. The servant had dried the boy’s hair and given him a pleasant scalp massage to help the boy relax, which had led to Slaine feeling sleepy. Now, however, the soothing effect of the massage had disappeared, and he was left tossing and turning in bed.

“You cannot sleep?” the servant asked. Slaine opened his eyes and looked at the blood sacrifice’s face in the dimmed room. The young man was sitting in the chair next to the nightstand, reading a book. A gentle glow from the nightstand lamp lit up the room just enough for it to be sleep-inducing. Even the servant had heavy eyelids.

“No,” Slaine answered timidly and pulled the duvet down from his chin.

“Are you perhaps thinking about your worries?” the young man asked, and Slaine nodded. “Do you want some medication for that as well? You did have heart pains, after all. Sleep should be a priority right now.”

Slaine sighed and sat up in bed. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

“No, I’m fine,” the boy answered tiredly.

“Anything you need to talk about in order to calm your worries, then?” the young man then continued.

Slaine shook his head.

“Not really… It’s just that I-“

The speaker built into the wall broke the boy’s sentence in half and Saazbaum’s strong voice said:

“ _All hands to battle stations. The enemy has boarded Tharsis together with the princess_.” The servant got a troubled look and stood up from the chair and walked up to the door. He locked it and turned his back toward it, standing on guard. Slaine threw himself up from bed, suddenly getting incredible energy from the mentioning of the princess. “ _All infantry; gather in the hangar for briefing immediately. Others prepare for an engagement with the enemy ships._ ”

“T-the princess…!” Slaine gasped shocked and stared at the speaker that had gone silent. The battle was about to start again.

He had to act quickly. Saazbaum was ordering the infantry out on the game board, which could mean he ordered the soldiers to board Tharsis and hunt Asseylum down. Cruhteo’s old ship had been nearly abandoned, only following the fleets to aid as a second floating airport and to block the human ships’ escape routes. It had also functioned as another set of eyes, with the ship’s sensors keeping an eye on the sea around it and warn the fleets for possible enemies; ships, submarines and aircrafts alike. It was sailed by a small amount of crew – about one hundred officers and sailors – after the remaining crew on Tharsis and the other ships had either been killed for fighting back, or been transferred between the ships in the Cruhteo fleet to fill in the positions of those who had been executed.

The blond-haired boy hurried to dress in a clean set of the navy blue uniform with burgundy cuffs, and noticed the servant look at him with distress.

“You should stay in bed and not move about,” the blood sacrifice at the door said worryingly.

“I can’t!” Slaine answered with adrenaline pumping in his veins. “I have to get out there and find her before he kills her!”

“I regret to inform you that you are not allowed to leave this room,” the servant then said, and Slaine stopped buttoning his uniform and stared at the young man.

“What?” he asked surprised.

“Lord Saazbaum ordered me to not let you leave this room,” the other blood sacrifice said. “You need to rest due to your heart condition.”

Slaine froze entirely and stared at the young man guarding the door. Had Saazbaum decided to imprison him in this cabin? Had the cursed count known Slaine would try to go out there again if the princess’s whereabouts were revealed? Why?

“Tell me…” Slaine said quietly and took a step closer to the servant – his heart slowly turning black as he had to get rid of resistance that tried to stop him from saving the cursed princess. Power began to course through his muscles, and determination welled up inside him. It felt similar to that time in Shinawara, when Trillram had revealed the entire plot behind the assassination. The fury was blazing hot even now and the exhaustion did not matter anymore, and the boy was grateful for the passionate flames that gave him strength. “What is the count’s objective? Why is he so intent on keeping me here? Am I a pet?” the boy then asked again with a dangerous tone to his voice.

“I advise you stop right there,” the servant said nervously. “I wish not to hurt you.”

“Hurt me?” Slaine scoffed and took another step closer. The blood sacrifice gritted his teeth. “Whatever you can do, I have felt worse in the hands of cursed creatures. Tell me, since I know that you know: What is Saazbaum thinking?”

“I am not allowed to answer that,” the blood sacrifice said and Slaine felt his mind go white with pure fury. With storming steps, he strode up to the dark-haired young man and shoved him up against the door with a tight grip on his uniform.

“Tell me!” the blond boy ordered. “Or step out of my way!”

“I cannot do that!” the servant yelled back.

Slaine pulled at the other’s uniform and slammed his back against the door. The boy was becoming impatient and felt the need to use violence. The young man seemed troubled about the situation, though – as if he was simply following an order because he had to and not because he wanted to.

“MOVE!” the boy growled and attempted to throw the servant away from the door, but his opponent was strong as well and managed to resist him.

“Calm down, young lord!” the young man exclaimed, and Slaine stopped to stare at him.

Now that he thought about it, the servant had called him a young lord all this time despite the boy was of the same rank as he in the hierarchy on board. It was unusual – nonexistent even – for a blood sacrifice to be called a lord.

“Lord?” he asked breathlessly and stared into the dark-haired man’s eyes, suspecting the term the servant used to call him had something to do with Saazbaum’s plan. The other blood sacrifice became further nervous as he realized Slaine had begun to build an understanding to his situation. With a calmer tone, the boy asked: “Please, tell me: What is going on, Harklight?”


	19. Childhood’s End – Even Though the Heavens Fall 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations for reaching this far; look how many words we have gotten through! Well done! We're almost as long as the _Air, Fire, Water & Earth_ fic, and this fic shall become even longer than that! (O.O)
> 
> Now, with the first cour done, the second cour will start immediately once I've recovered from writing this last chapter. The second cour will be very different to the anime compared to the chapters in the first cour, but still follow the main happenings; I won't stray too much from the important parts. I realized it will force me to change the tags and warnings from teen to mature and add more tags along the way as well (once the first chapter of second cour is updated). I hope you can forgive the sudden changes with the tags.

The ship was nearly empty. It was peculiar, the brunet thought. It did not feel like a trap either, or else they would not have reached the gallery deck this easily, right below the flight deck. The small mismatched squad had sneaked through the entire three decks below them without seeing or hearing any undead life signs. Barely anyone was present on the gallery deck either. Most of the crew must have been in the superstructure or in the engine room, or then in the shared crew spaces.

‘ _They’re most likely manning their stations_ ,’ the brunet thought and moved quietly with his back half a step away from the bulkhead behind him; he avoided grazing it against the bulkhead to keep his sounds down, and so did the others. He was right behind Rayet, and Eddelrittuo was scouting in front of them. Seylum moved furthest behind the line to keep an eye on the passageway they had come from, and Inko and Yuki were behind Inaho.

The cursed creatures had guided their human team members through the corridors where they could hear or sense no presence at all. Their superhuman hearing and instincts were impressive in that sense; they could listen to which passageways they should take, and avoid being found by the enemies that surely were on board. The ship was fully activated; the lights were on in the entire ship and the ventilation was working. It was certainly not abandoned.

Eddelrittuo held up her hand in a crossing and looked behind the corner to the left. Then she turned toward her squad members to signal an enemy had been spotted around the corner. Everyone stopped immediately and the humans held their breaths.

“Don’t hold your breaths,” Inaho whispered to Yuki and Inko. “Open your airways as much as possible and breathe calmly.” It was the tip he had been taught by Slaine back on Tanegashima, and it worked; the breathing became quieter that way, which meant they did not need to hold their breaths and slowly suffocate until the breathing reflex forced them to breathe again.

Inaho saw Rayet reach for the knife in her utility belt and lowered her stance to prepare her body to perform an attack if needed. They all stared at the little cursed girl who looked behind the corner again, and then began backing away. She moved her hand in the air to tell the others to do the same, and everyone began backing quietly. The enemy was approaching the corner.

Eddelrittuo stopped just a couple of steps away from the intersection and then lowered her stance as well, making sure her small feet were planted securely to the floor and made herself ready. She was going to attack the enemy coming down the corridor.

A hand took a hold of Inaho’s dark combat jacket, and the brunet threw a glance over his shoulder. Inko was holding on to him, looking at him with a questioning look while waiting for an answer that would calm her. Inaho nodded to her to voicelessly say everything would be all right, and then turned to look at the intersection again.

A soldier came into view, emerging from behind the corner with an expression of boredom playing on her face. A lock of pearly white hair obscured her vision to see the enemy squad in the corridor to her right, but when she pulled the lock back with slender fingers, she stopped and was about to turn around as she noticed the squad in the corner of her eye. Just as she nearly looked down the corridor, Eddelrittuo jumped up at her. A scream emitted from the cursed soldier’s throat as she crashed against the wall, and a gush of air hit Inaho’s cheek as Rayet dashed forward to aid the handmaiden.

They both overpowered her, but the scream that would alarm others had already been released.

“We need to move, now!” Rayet said as the enemy had been incapacitated with a brutal kick to the soldier’s throat, nearly cutting the female vampire’s head off.

They began hurrying down the corridor with hasty steps. They did not run, but moved quickly enough to keep a fast pace, and slow enough to be able to keep a watchful eye on their surroundings, such as intersections and doors and corners.

“Damn it,” Yuki hissed and ran past Inaho to be the first human in the line. “How far until the phone, Your Highness?” she asked, and Inaho heard Seylum answer behind him:

“It is located further ahead! Probably five minutes from here!”

“A lot can happen in those minutes!” Yuki said and stopped; another enemy had emerged from a staircase and attacked Eddelrittuo, and flung her down to the deck with a brutal throw.

Rayet ran up to the battling cursed creatures and grabbed the enemy by their arm to stop them from slashing down at Eddelrittuo. Inaho raised his gun and aimed at the cursed enemy’s head, and his sister and Inko did the same thing. The three of them pulled the trigger.

†††

“Slaine! What are you doing out here?” Saazbaum asked with surprise as Slaine came running down the corridor to chase after the cursed count who was on his way to flight deck.

“Lord!” the human boy gasped and stopped in front of him while holding his sloppily made uniform above his chest. “Let me come with you!”

“Absolutely not!” Saazbaum said and pushed the boy aside. “Go back to your room, boy.”

“No!” Slaine yelled and was quickly at the cursed man’s heels, tailing him like a persistent dog. “You will go after her, right – on board the Tharsis,” he said and watched the cursed count’s back.

“Go back to your room,” the cursed count ordered again. “I will not let you get in my way.”

“Are you doing this because you are planning to replace the princess with a new princess?” the human boy asked. “Harklight told me what you are trying to do, and what my role is in all of this!”

Saazbaum stopped but did not look at the boy. The atmosphere shifted to heavy and dangerous, and Slaine stopped as well to wait while he looked at the cursed man.

“Then you should understand the importance of you staying on board this ship. You have proven yourself already,” the cursed count said quietly with a warning tone. “I will have to reprimand the blood sacrifice later.”

“But sir!” Slaine said and walked around the vampire to look him in the eyes. “I overpowered him, so you should not hurt him,” he then lied. In truth, Harklight had finally given in to the boy’s demand to know what was going on – probably because the young man pitied the boy – and then willingly stepped aside to let Slaine run. The boy would protect their secret, not letting Saazbaum know Harklight had broken an order. “There is no need to kill the princess either!” Slaine continued desperately. “If she is-“

“Stand down, Slaine Troyard!” Saazbaum ordered brutally, and the blond-haired boy went silent and took a frightened step back. “I shall force the nation into submission and take their princess away from them,” he continued and pushed Slaine out of his way with the cane of a noble he had brought with him. “She will die tonight, and I shall personally burn her lifeless corpse to ensure she is out of my way. I order you to stay on board; do not dare become useless for me, boy.”

Slaine stopped and watched as the cursed count disappeared down the passageway. Once again, the boy’s heart forced him to disobey an order and take matter into his own hands. He would not let Saazbaum do what he was about to do, and he would not play nicely along either with his future plan that Slaine was a part of.

‘ _If Asseylum is taken away from me, I will go with her wherever she is taken – even if it’s into those dark rooms behind the border of death_ ,’ the boy thought and squeezed his hands into fists and began walking toward the same direction as Saazbaum. ‘ _Is the F-35 I used still on deck?_ ’ he wondered and hoped that it was so. ‘ _I’ll have to follow the count and find the princess before he does_.’

His walking steps turned into a run, and he stepped out onto the flight deck just in time to see a helicopter lift – probably with Saazbaum and soldiers on board. The wind from the propellers tugged as his hair and uniform, and he squinted as he saw it fly away into the darkness out at sea. Then he looked around the deck, and his sight fell onto the F-35B waiting where Slaine had left it, and the boy ran toward it.

†††

“ _Nao! Where are you?!_ ” he heard Yuki’s voice in the radio headset. A gunshot was heard in the background. “ _Eddelrittuo and Rayet are separated from me, the princess and Inko_.”

“I was forced into a staircase,” the brunet answered. The squad had been split when cursed soldiers had begun to gather on the gallery deck, and Inaho had no idea where the others were by now. “Continue the mission.”

“ _Inaho, you shouldn’t_ -“ Inko said, but was interrupted by Yuki:

“ _Don’t be ridiculous!_ _You don’t know what the enemies are capable of! You can’t win alone!_ ”

The brunet opened the watertight door to the flight deck and picked up an incendiary grenade from his belt and said:

“I don’t need to win. I’ll just have to cause as much ruckus I can to draw the enemy to me. Make sure to hide somewhere until the coast is clear,” he said and pulled the safety pin and climbed the stairs, but was sure to hold the grenade’s handle tightly to prevent it from going off just yet. “Get the phone. Don’t let anything distract you.”

“ _Don’t tell me you’re trying to be a human shield!_ ” Yuki said angrily. Inaho was sure that if she had been standing in front of him, she would have yanked him by his collar and yelled at him the way she had done in the hangar on Deucalion.

“That’s not a very efficient strategy,” the brunet said with irritation growing due to his sister’s persistence. She should know him by now. “I don’t plan on dying yet. Go get that phone.”

He dropped the hand grenade down the stairs and then ran out onto flight deck. Moments later, an explosion rumbled behind him and the watertight door flung open as smoke and fire erupted from inside it. He had to find another way in, but knew it would be difficult – if not even impossible – due to the ship probably being under lockdown. Instead, he decided he would wait out the fire in the staircase since the crew on board was forced to tend to it so that a fire would not spread, and he would wait in hiding behind the superstructure.

As he had sat down behind the corner, he briefly heard yells from inside the superstructure. The voices echoed and resonated against the metal walls before the sound of a helicopter was heard. Inaho looked up toward the sky from behind the corner and saw lights on the approaching rotorcraft blink in the darkness. Soon the wind from the propellers began to blow through his hair, and he raised his hand to the headset in his ear to warn the others:

“Enemy reinforcement incoming. They’re landing on flight deck now.” When the helicopter landed, the brunet saw a cursed count get out of the rotorcraft. Suddenly, he shivered. “A count has come on board…” he whispered as quietly he could into the radio.

“ _Got it! Stay safe. Do not engage with him!_ ” Yuki answered.

“Roger…” the boy whispered and listened to the angry voices as the just arrived cursed creatures noticed the fire in the staircase.

“Extinguish the fire!” someone ordered on the other side of the superstructure. It was probably the cursed count. It could not be anyone else; the voice had a deep and commanding tone – very used to giving orders.

As fire extinguishers were heard, Inaho decided he would hurry after the cursed creatures once they had entered the ship. He had to get into the hangar to set off an explosion in there and hopefully cause enough alarming sounds to draw most of the crew on board the ship to the main deck – away from the gallery deck where the others were.

‘ _Where are you Rayet? I need you now_ ,’ the brunet thought and took a deep breath as the flight deck was emptied of cursed creatures. He dared to take a step out from his hiding place and slowly close in on the entrance that had just recently been burning.

†††

The alarm was annoying inside the cockpit. Slaine ignored it despite he knew there was a good reason for the alarm to sound.

‘ _I know the fuel is low!_ ’ the boy thought stressed and steered the aircraft toward Tharsis. He hoped the amount of fuel would last just enough to reach Tharsis, and then… ‘ _And then I don’t know what to do!_ ’ he thought and felt frustrated.

Why was things always ending like this? Why did he never have a fair chance to escape with the cursed princess once he had found her? He had not had a plan when he had gone to search for her on Tanegashima, and he had not had a plan when he had tried to find her in South Korea either. Now, for the third time, he had no plan again. Perhaps he was forced to fall down on his knees and beg Saazbaum to spare Asseylum’s life? Maybe he should try to kill the count and die in the process since he knew he was not strong enough to survive an encounter with a second generation vampire like Saazbaum?

“Damn it!” he exclaimed and slammed his fist against the canopy.

Soon, he got a visual over Tharsis. It was like a black ghost, casting an eerie feeling around the area of the sea. It was so silent and ominous the boy’s hairs stood on end. A ship that silent was one of the most frightening things Slaine could imagine, since each ship had a life of their own when they were not occupied with passengers and crew. A silent ship had her own voice which she spoke with through the eerie sounds that could only be heard when the ship was either entirely or nearly devoid of life; it was only then the ship’s soul could be noticed.

Without hesitation, the blond activated the hovering action and began descending onto the deck, and once he felt the touchdown, he hurriedly opened the canopy and climbed out. Once his feet landed on the deck that had been heated by the aircraft’s torch-like exhaust, he ran toward the superstructure. A door stood open and the frame was covered with soot, as if it had been burning recently. Two fire extinguishers were left on the deck and the acrid smell of burnt invaded his nostrils as he breathed it in. Slaine raised his arm to cover his nose against the uniform fabric, and carefully walked down the darkened staircase; the lights seemed to have been broken during the recent fire.

As he got onto the familiar gallery deck where he had walked every day for two years’ time, he looked around it. Three fire extinguishers lay there as well that had probably been used to put the fire in the staircase out. Blood lay on the floor as well and had been splattered onto the walls, and Slaine gritted his teeth and listened intently for sounds. Somewhere further down the corridor, a battle was going on. The boy decided to run toward it, and soon encountered a corpse of a cursed soldier. He nearly slipped on the dark blood that had floated out from the soldier’s skull that had been crushed; a common way to kill a cursed creature entirely. It was a gruesome sight, but Slaine could not stop here.

‘ _I need a weapon…_ ’ he thought and forced his hand to grab the gun that lay in the puddle of blood, where the cursed soldier had dropped it. He wiped the worst of the organic fluid against the hem of his uniform, and then checked the magazine. It was still loaded, with only a handful of bullets that had been shot.

With the gun in hand, he continued to follow the sounds and ventured deeper into the ship. He met more bodies on his way that lay here and there; either a strong vampire or several weak cursed creatures had moved through the passageway who had killed the soldiers.

’ _Asseylum?_ ’ he thought and began running to where the sounds of an ongoing battle came from. He was getting closer.

As he came to an intersection in the command operations area, a gush of blood obscured his way and a cursed soldier screamed. A small object came sliding across the floor toward him, and he looked down at it as it bumped against his boot. At first he thought it was a grenade, but when he kept staring at it – frozen from fear of it blowing up right in front of him – he realized it was a phone.

‘ _The satellite phone?_ ’ he thought surprised.

Before he had the time to pick it up, something moved further down the corridor. He looked up just in time to see a red-haired girl dash up to him and push him up against the wall. The wind was knocked out of him, and his limbs began tingling with adrenaline.

“AGH!”

As he opened his eyes, he saw a terrifying predator look back at him with her violet eyes wide open from the heat of battle. Her pupils were dilated from focus and tremendous brain activity from the fight. As the boy stared at her, he slowly recognized the face staring at him and quickly ransacked his brain to find where he had seen her.

The other seemed to remember him first:

“You!” the girl said and suddenly let go of Slaine’s uniform. She took a step back from him and stared at him with shocked surprise. “You’re alive!”

Slaine collapsed to the floor with his back sliding against the bulkhead, and gasped as his heart began to hurt again. He grabbed his uniform and pushed himself up from the deck onto his knees, and looked at her with surprise.

“You’re…” he said and watched the cursed girl pick up the phone form the floor. He remembered her. “You’re … the vampire from the airport!”

“Miss Areash! Hurry!” a familiar voice yelled form behind the red-haired cursed girl. It was a shrill voice of a child.

The cursed girl was quick to react to the voice behind her, and she threw a last glance at Slaine before she began running down the corridor. That was when Asseylum’s handmaiden came into the boy’s view, and Slaine began shaking from him realizing the princess was not far away from him. If Eddelrittuo was here, Asseylum was surely close by.

“Eddelrittuo!” the human boy yelled and hurried up onto his feet. He had to support himself against the wall, however, due to the chest pains. The pain streamed down his arms again. “Wait!”

“T-Troyard!?” the little cursed girl exclaimed as the red-haired girl hurried past her, down the corridor.

“Where’s the princess?!” the human boy yelled and tried to take a step toward her.

Eddelrittuo stared at him with shock and then looked down the corridor at the red-haired vampire, who was running further away from her. She turned her childlike face toward Slaine once again, and then shook her head.

“Forgive me!” she yelled to him and began running after the red-haired girl.

‘ _No! Wait!_ ’ the boy thought and stumbled forward:

“Eddelrittuo!”

The little cursed girl slowed down and looked over her shoulder.

“I have to go!” the little girl yelled. “I have to protect the princess!”

“T-the princess…” Slaine gasped. “Then hurry! Saazbaum is after her! He’ll kill her if he finds her!”

Eddelrittuo’s face contorted with horror from hearing what enemy was after Asseylum, and she nodded and hurried after the red-haired vampire, who had disappeared from view by now. Slaine was left alone with a hurt cursed creature crawling toward him on the floor, and he knew he had to hurry and get away from the hungry creature. Even if his blood was tainted by the medication he had taken a while ago, he still could not let a cursed creature drain him; he needed all of his remaining strength.

The cursed girls had run down the corridor from starboard to port side of the ship. Was the princess somewhere there? Slaine had no choice but to suppose that was the case, and he decided to take a detour to avoid the cursed creature crawling toward him on the floor.

‘ _Princess Asseylum…_ ’ he thought and felt sweat pearl down his temples. The chest pains were making him cold sweat and weak, and he had to support his tired body against the bulkheads; he could not move without aid anymore.

A violent tremble shook the entire ship and a loud explosion followed. A gush of wind came out through the ventilation and brought dust with it. The human boy staggered and began coughing the moment he breathed in the dust, and he could feel it stick to his airways, making tears well up to his eyes. He managed to regain his balance and covered his nose with the cuff of his uniform, and he gripped the gun in his hand to make sure he would not drop it.

‘ _Explosion in the hangar? What happened?_ ’ he thought alarmed and hurried as fast as he could down the dusty corridor. ‘ _Don’t tell me the princess was caught in the blast!_ ’

†††

“ _Inaho! Are you all right?!_ ” Inko’s distressed voice said in the headset. ‘ _There was an explosion!_ ’

Inaho lay limp on the deck in the hangar. The explosion he had rigged had been stronger than he had expected, and the force of the shockwave had thrown him across the hangar. His head hurt terribly; he must have hit it when he landed.

As the boy had managed to get all the way to the hangar, he had found a small storage of missiles. He had had no idea what kind of missiles they were, but he had used the hoists to load one of them onto a van and placed it as far away from the few parked aircrafts as possible, all the way in the front of the main deck, as close to the bow as possible. Then, he had rigged an anti-tank grenade onto it with a strap and pulled the pin, but been sure to have the handle held down by the strap, and then hurried away from it to take cover. He had hidden behind a bulkhead and then taken aim at the grenade from around the corner, and pulled the trigger. He had missed it a couple of times, but once he had hit the grenade and the strap had been cut by the bullet, he had curled up in the corner and prepared himself for the explosion.

The explosion had been stronger than he had expected; the shockwave had reached him in the corner and thrown him down the hangar. Even the aircrafts had broken loose from their chains and moved, but seemed all right despite the force they had encountered. The lights had been destroyed as well in the front section of the hangar, leaving it in darkness. Inaho had expected most of the blast would have poured out through the large openings on either side of the hangar, but had seriously miscalculated.

“I’m … all right…” he gasped as he answered Inko’s call. The dust floated heavily in the air. “The phone…?”

Weakly, he pushed himself up from the floor and covered his mouth with the sleeve of his uniform to avoid breathing in the particles in the air. As he looked to where the missile had gone off, a pile of burning rubble lay there and the entire section of the hangar looked like a war zone. If that did not attract the enemy, nothing would.

“ _Rayet just came with it and turned around to return some kind of favor, she said_ ,” Inko answered. “ _Eddelrittuo is holding off the enemies that are chasing us, and the princess is safely with me and Yuki._ ”

“Good…” the boy breathed relieved. “Seylum. Can you contact your grandfather immediately?”

“ _Negative_ ,” the princess answered. “ _We are in a compromised situation!_ ”

“Rayet,” the brunet then said. “The others need you.”

“ _I can’t right now!_ ” was the answer, and the boy felt frustrated.

“I need you to go to them and help them so Seylum can contact her grandfather,” the brunet said again, as if ordering her to return to the others. “We can’t deal with personal matters right now.”

“ _The blood sacrifice that saved me in Shinawara_ ,” Rayet said, and Inaho stopped in his tracks – frozen from the surprise of her mentioning what he believed was the silver-crowned boy. “ _I met him earlier! I can’t leave him here, but I can’t seem to find him! He seems to have moved from where I saw him last time._ ”

Inaho forced back an impulse to order the girl to find and save the silver-crowned boy he had met on Tanegashima. He wanted to save Slaine so badly – to bring him with him to Deucalion and ask him to help him protect the cursed princess along with him. He wanted to see the boy interact with Seylum and watch their fragile relationship, and listen to the soft voice the boy supposedly had according to Seylum’s description of him.

‘ _But I can’t prioritize him right now_ ,’ he thought and cursed silently. ‘ _Seylum needs Rayet right now!_ ’

“We have to prioritize the princess,” Inaho reluctantly said. “Leave him for now until the princess is safe. Once our goal has been reached, I’ll help you search for him.”

Steps echoed somewhere further up ahead in the burning rubble, followed by the tap of a cane. They were calm and powerful steps, and Inaho looked up to see who was approaching him.

“Well, well…” a deep voice said with amusement dripping from each word: “A rat of calamity has sneaked on board.”

A shadowy silhouette walked closer toward him from the smoke with a cane in their hand, calmly tapping it against the deck as they walked closer. Soon a burgundy coat came into view as the man stepped out into the light, and Inaho’s heart felt like stopping.

The cursed count had found him.

“Rayet…” Inaho said as his blood felt as if it turned to ice in his veins. “The count is here… I need you immediately!”

“ _What?!_ ” he heard Yuki yell in the radio. “ _We’ll fight our way there! Run!_ ”

“ _I’m on my way!_ ” Rayet answered. “ _I’ve met resistance. Soldiers are boarding the ship!_ ”

“ _Inaho! Hurry away from there! He’ll kill you!_ ” Inko cried desperately.

The brunet took a step back and stumbled. The shock from the blast wave and the fear of standing in front of a cursed count was making his knees weak. On top of that, he had been exhausted already from the battle in the bunker, and it seemed that tiredness began to catch up with him. He staggered as he took a second step back, and raised his gun with shaking hands.

“Oh?” the proud cursed count said and sneered, and the moment Inaho pulled the trigger, the vampire had swiftly taken a step aside and approached him with the same calm as before. “Foolish boy,” the cursed man then smiled when Inaho continued backing away.

‘ _Rayet…!_ ’

He watched as the cursed count raised the cane and pointed it at Inaho, and heard the prideful voice say:

“En garde.”

Without a moment to react, the cane came out lashing toward him, cutting cleanly through the air with a loud whooshing sound after the cursed count had closed the distance between them with terrifying speed. Inaho had no time to dodge it, and it hit him in the side. A sharp pain attacked him and sent him flying across the deck. Once he landed onto the deck a couple of meters away from where he had been standing a moment earlier, a cutting pain replaced the pain from the cane’s impact.

“AAAGH!” he screamed as he raised his hand to protect his damaged ribs. The boy’s pain-filled scream tore at his throat.

“That hit must have broken a couple of your ribs,” the cursed count said amused and walked up to the hurt Inaho to look down at him with victory shining in his prideful eyes. “Be careful; the fragments and sharp edges might cut your organs if you move about,” he continued with scorn.

Inaho had managed to hold onto his gun and squeezed it with his fingers. Adrenaline was coursing through him, pushing his body to soon ignore the pain. Even if his ribs hurt, the pain was ever so slowly numbed as he knew he had to give his all to fight for survival.

When the cursed count pushed a cruel boot against Inaho’s shoulder and forced the boy onto his side to lean against the fire extinguisher on his back, Inaho gasped from pain and raised his gun. Without delay, he pulled the trigger a handful of times, and the vampire was able to dodge only one bullet. Point-blank-range was the best way to empty a magazine into a cursed creature since it gave them too little time and space to move out of the bullets’ way.

The cursed count gritted his teeth and held back his voice as the silver burned at his flesh like acid, and gave the human boy no more time to shoot before he dealt a kick against Inaho’s stomach. The boy lost his breath entirely and his mind went black for a while, and once he managed to breathe in a gulp of air, a horrible pain began to rage inside his belly. Inaho coughed from the impact and, after a couple of coughs, blood splattered from his mouth onto the deck in front of him.

‘ _This is not good…_ ’ he thought and tried to deal with the pain as best as he could. He knew he was seriously hurt with internal bleeding, and he would probably die from these wounds. Once organs were damaged, life began quickly slipping away. ‘ _They won’t be able to treat these wounds_ ,’ he then thought and collected all of his strength to push his body up while understanding his fate. He screamed as he did so; the pain was so merciless he had never felt something even similar to it. ‘ _If I’ll die tonight … then I might as well do as much damage I can…_ ’

There was no time to say his prayers, just as he had thought back in the school armory in Shinawara. He had to take action immediately and keep moving in whatever way was possible. To even consider what his current condition meant – to think about the unavoidable death that would steal him away any moment – was not in his thoughts for a single second. He would deal with that thought later – if he got the time.

“Persistent, are we?” the cursed count asked and watched Inaho push his tired body onto his knees and raise his gun toward him. “Useless,” he said disappointed and then struck Inaho across his face with the cane.

The brunet nearly fell limp onto the deck again, but managed to catch his fall with both arms.

‘ _A grenade…_ ’ he thought hazily. ‘ _I need … an incendiary grenade…_ ’

Inaho knew he had no choice but to pull the pin and let a grenade explode and envelop the cursed count in flames. In order to do that, he had to be careful and do it discreetly, which meant he had to let the grenade go off at his belt. Death would be quick and painless, he hoped, and the fire would incapacitate the cursed count for good – and the boy, too.

As he reached for a grenade in his belt while feeling a hopeless surrender, quick steps came toward him and the count with such speed he had no time to react before the cursed count had taken a leap away from him and someone stood in front of the boy. When Inaho looked up, he saw golden hair in a neat braid, and a female body stood between him and the cursed count.

“Count Saazbaum!” Seylum’s voice said powerfully as she glared at her enemy. “What a vile thing you have done! It was you behind all of this, correct?!” the cursed princess then barked.

“S-Seylum…” Inaho gasped and hung his head. She should not be here; she should have been running. His hand had managed to grab the grenade, but he had luckily had no time to remove the pin.

The cursed count named Saazbaum released an amused scoff while he held his bullet wounds with careful hands:

“You showing up here is quite a blessing, Your Highness.” Saazbaum took a step closer toward the cursed princess and the human boy. “Never have I been so glad to see your beautiful countenance as I am now; you made my mission easier. You are brave for willingly coming here.”

“Stop this immediately!” Seylum yelled. She was aggressive and Inaho could imagine the look of a predator in her eyes. “What is it that you want so badly that you took the safety of the entire world into your senseless consideration when developing your destructive plan?! My grandfather and I shall not forgive this, and you shall be-”

Saazbaum raised his head a little more to look down at his princess with a condescending glare, and interrupted her:

“Emperor Rayregalia Vers Rayvers has moved on from this world.”

Seylum gasped from shock and released a quiet whimper, and Inaho sighed in defeat.

‘ _With the emperor dead, this mission was nothing but a waste of time and effort_ ,’ he thought.

“What I want,” Saazbaum continued and pulled his coat aside from his hip.

‘ _He has a gun!_ ’ Inaho realized and did not understand why Seylum stood still and did not run. He tried to warn his dear friend, but could not speak. ‘ _Seylum… Run!_ ’

“Is your undead life,” Saazbaum then said with a sinister smile. “I shall crush it with my own hands and burry it deep into history. Tomorrow, no one will even remember your family name, Your Highness,” he said and quickly raised a gun and shot a rain of bullets toward the cursed princess.

Seylum did not move even if she had had the reflexes to do so, and she released a scream the moment she was hit. Immediately, she began clawing at her body and Inaho watched as gentle smoke began emitting from her wounds.

‘ _Silver!_ ’ the brunet thought surprised. Blood ran down his face, and he realized it was her blood that had splattered on him.

“S-Seylum…!” he gasped. “R-run… You could – have run…”

“No!” the cursed princess exclaimed in the middle of her scream. She began digging in her wounds, trying to pry the silver bullets out of her flesh. “If I would have-“ she gasped and hurriedly worked with her hands so alleviate the pain as soon as possible. Blood dripped onto the deck between her feet. “He would have shot you! Without my grandfather or Slaine – you are the only one I have!”

Inaho lost his breath at those words. He could only stare at her back as his heart swelled in his chest and warmth enveloped him – probably for the last time. It felt as if his eyes would tear up, but due to him never crying ever since he had been a baby, his body seemed to have forgotten how to. Now he could understand why Slaine was so fond of her. Now he could understand why the silver-crowned boy risked his own life for her. He did so not because he needed to, but because he wanted to.

‘ _Slaine doesn’t give a damn about the world_ ,’ Inaho thought as he pushed his body up from the deck with renewed strength. He had to act quickly; he knew his strength would slip out of him within a couple of breaths. ‘ _He cherishes you beyond anything else because of your kindness_.’ He pushed his hand into the uniform pocket and pulled out the UV-flash light. ‘ _Despite how we humans look to you cursed, you still care about us_ -’ He pointed the flash light at the cursed count, who was aiming his gun toward Seylum. ‘… _enough to risk your life for us. You’re not fighting to stop this war; you’re fighting to keep us alive._ ’

The moment he pushed the button on the flash light, a concentrated UV-light made the cursed count release a painful gasp. With the other hand, Inaho raised his gun toward him and emptied the magazine into the enemy vampire. Saazbaum growled and wanted to make an attack directed at the princess and boy, but was pushed back by the UV-light and jumped away from the rays directed at him and disappeared into the darkened part of the hangar. Inaho gave the flash light to Seylum, whispered to her to hold the count back, and reloaded the gun with sluggish hands. Saazbaum would attack them again any moment, and he had to make himself ready for his last stand.

“Slaine’s not dead,” he whispered and felt Seylum freeze her movements. “You can’t stay,” Inaho said quietly to his dear friend. “You … have to run…” he gasped and staggered. His strength was leaving him. “He’s searching … for you…”

“Inaho, no!” the beautiful princess cried and gave up on trying to dig out the silver bullets from her torso. The smoke of sizzling flesh rose from her as she looked over her shoulder, and Inaho collapsed against her back, leaning his forehead between her shoulder blades.

“Find Slaine… He’s on board this ship. Or call for Calm. I’ll hold … the count back,” the brunet whispered. “Run…”

“Then I shall take you with me!” Seylum said with tears flowing down her cheeks. She corrected the flash light toward Saazbaum the moment the cursed count emerged from the shadows to attempt a new attack, and he disappeared out of view again.

“No,” Inaho said and smiled weakly. “Someone needs to … hold him back. Go…”

He used the rest of his strength to push the cursed princess toward the aft of the main deck, from where they had boarded the ship. She could use that platform to get up onto flight deck or signal for Calm to get her.

The moment he did that, an explosion went off somewhere close by and he fell onto his back from the shock wave. The fire extinguisher got loose from its straps on his back and landed next to him. A shrill scream filled the hangar. Blood ran down into his left eye, and Inaho blinked to clear his sight. Once he looked at whoever was screaming, he saw Seylum be enveloped in flames.

‘ _An incendiary grenade?_ ’ he thought with horror as he watched the fire burn away at Seylum. ‘ _The fire…! It’ll kill her!_ ’

The cursed princess staggered and fell onto the deck. There, she began thrashing around while screaming so loud it cut through the entire hangar and resonated from the iron bulkheads. Her beautiful braid began burning and the fire crawled beneath the flameproof military uniform she wore and began scorching her from inside it. The more she mover, the higher the flames became as her thrashing movements allowed oxygen to enter beneath the clothes.

Desperately, Inaho tried to get up from the deck, but his body was so heavy from weakness that he could only crawl toward her. He grabbed the small fire extinguisher and pulled it along as he tried to get to the screaming Seylum, who began to lose strength. Her flailing arms and kicking legs slowed down as the incredible pain made her go numb. For a moment, she seemed to give up and accept the flames as the fire was inescapable.

Animals and humans alike – and now vampires – had a tendency to go numb and accept a sudden death like that when attacked, murdered or exposed to a deadly accident. Inaho had seen it happen in animals in documentaries, and he had gotten it confirmed by the behavior in the humans in the bunker. They had gone limp and either stopped screaming or then continued screaming or crying while a predator bit them, cut in their flesh or pulled their bodies to shreds. It was the true face of hopelessness, when everything stopped to matter and life was consumed because the being was not able to fight back.

‘ _Don’t die…!_ ’ the brunet thought panicked and tried to force his broken body to function. It refused; he could not even raise his body up from the deck and lean on his arms.

Seylum was still very much alive, but it seemed as if the pain from the fire incapacitated her. The stench of burnt flesh was heavy in the hangar, and her hair had burnt away and the skin on her face began to turn black and break off from her flesh. Flakes of ashes floated around her each time she helplessly moved while she cried and screamed from pain. The human boy could not imagine what she felt in those flames.

As she had lain numb for a while and collected strength, she began screaming again and thrashing around, but, this time, she had no energy to keep moving for long.

Saazbaum walked up to a safe distance next to the princess and raised a bottle he must have found somewhere. Inaho realized it was some kind of fuel, and as the cursed man poured it on her, the flames reached several meters up into the air. Seylum got strength from the increased pain and began thrashing around again, screaming louder than before. It cut through Inaho’s eardrums and pierced so deeply into his being that he felt as if a hole had been blown into his heart.

She would die at this rate. It was unavoidable.

‘ _No…!_ ’

A loud yell echoed in the hangar, and steps came running. Inaho saw Saazbaum look down toward where the sound had come from, but the boy did not care whatever happened from there. All he could do was to crawl closer to the screaming princess while dragging the extinguisher with him.

“No, boy!” he heard Saazbaum exclaim.

“LET GO OF ME! ASSEYLUM! NO!” a young male voice screamed just as loud as the painful cries of the cursed princess.

†††

Slaine had managed to reach the entrance into the hangar when a loud scream began to sound from deeper inside it. It smelled burnt, as if some kind of chemical was on fire. The boy felt a stinging shock flash through him as he recognized the screaming voice belonging to a woman. It sounded horribly painful and he instantly began to fear the worst. The pain in his chest grew, but he could not care less about it, and he hurried deeper into the hangar.

It was dark in there. Further up ahead, the ceiling lights shone brightly. Beneath them, something that looked like a small pyre released black smoke up to the deck above. When Slaine looked closer, he realized the screams came from inside the pyre, which consisted of a single being that thrashed around in the merciless flames. He recognized the being immediately, and his reasoning disappeared entirely.

“ASSEYLUM!” he screamed and began running as quickly as he could on weak legs.

Someone stood next to the burning cursed princess, but the boy had no time to reflect on who it was since it did not matter at all. He wanted to run up to his beloved and hold her and comfort her; the shock was so great he could not realize the fact that if he took her blazing body into his arms, the flames would consume him, too.

All he wanted was to hold her.

Suddenly, someone grabbed him with an arm around his waist. Slaine began trouncing whoever held him back, fighting for dear life to get loose and run up to his screaming beloved.

“No, boy!”

“LET GO OF ME!” the boy screamed. “ASSEYLUM! NO!”

“You will catch fire if you go near her!” a voice said that he recognized as Saazbaum’s.

“I DON’T CARE!” Slaine screamed and clawed at the arm holding him. “RELEASE ME!”

Tears sprung to his eyes as he watched the cursed princess go limp in the fire. She was dying. She was right in front of him, burning alive. Her beautiful hair had burnt away and her skin was as black as coal. It began to peel off of her beautiful face, which slowly became unrecognizable. Ashes floated in the air, thrown up toward the deck above by the heat and then floated down. A flake landed on Slaine’s cheek, and the boy froze entirely.

Slaine could not believe what he saw, and he could not reason with the situation. He saw what happened but he could not understand it. All he did understand was that Asseylum was in pain and screamed as she was dying while he was held back from her.

She could not die; she was supposed to live forever. There had never been a truth truer than that. Slaine could not imagine a world without her, since she had always been included in his and the world’s future in his thoughts and expectations. Now that she was dying in front of him without him being able to do anything about it, his world came crumbling down and he was not sure in what present he actually was. Was this a nightmare or real? Was it a forbidden scene in a horrifically imaginative mind? Was it even his own eyes that saw what was going on, or did he actually see what he saw?

“No…! No! NO!” he cried and tried to pry himself free from the arm holding him around his waist.

As Asseylum had gone limp and lay on her back while the fire slowly turned her body into ash, she moved her hand a last time, reaching for something further down the hangar. Slaine stopped struggling and followed the direction of her hand and saw a brown-haired boy lie on the deck with blood splattered on his face. He was dragging a fire extinguisher after him as he crawled toward her with a weak body. He was so weak he had not been able to push his body up from the floor.

“O-Orange…” Slaine gasped and felt his body go weak from exhaustion. The heart began screaming in his chest as if it was burning as well.

Then, before Orange had had time to reach the now destroyed beautiful creature, Asseylum went limp and silent. The crackling of the fire burning away at her body was all that remained and Slaine’s world became empty and surreal, and hung his head and cried – tears flowing down his cheeks and dripping from his chin.

‘ _Continue screaming!_ ’ the boy thought desperately and dared not to look up at the burning corpse. ‘ _Don’t go silent! Don’t go to those dark rooms! Don’t leave me here!_ ’

“It is over now, Slaine,” Saazbaum said gently as the boy collapsed in his arms.

“H-how dare…?” the blond boy whimpered. His heart was breaking apart, and so was he. “How dare … you…?”

As if a lightning had struck him, his heart went completely black and so did his thoughts. The blond-haired blood sacrifice looked up at his master – the vampire responsible for the death of his secretly beloved – and glared at him with revenge pulling his sanity down into an abyss. He turned around in Saazbaum’s grip and raised his hand and squeezed it into a fist. With as much strength as he could, he flung it toward his master and dealt a blow into Saazbaum’s face, grinding his fist against the cursed creature’s nose. The vampire grunted from pain, and Slaine remembered he was holding a gun – the gun he had taken from a cursed corpse when he had entered the ship. The boy grabbed it harder and pushed it against Saazbaum’s forehead while tears streamed down his face.

“Slaine…!” Saazbaum said shocked, but the boy cared not to listen. All he cared about was to soothe the anger boiling in his guts, broken heart and destroyed mind.

Slaine breathed heavily a handful of times, and then screamed as the fury became too much for him to handle, and pulled the trigger. A bullet ran through Saazbaum’s skull and the count released the human boy to stagger back. Slaine followed him to stay in point-blank-range and grabbed the gun with both hands, and pulled the trigger again and again while screaming his throat sore from unbearable anger, brought forth from the sorrow that dragged his soul into a void.

The cursed count staggered back as the silver bullets tore up holes in his skull, and finally stumbled and fell backwards onto the deck. Slaine kept pulling the trigger with desperation to soothe the sorrow and eliminate the threat that was Saazbaum, and not until the gun jammed did he stop. He pulled the trigger again and again, but nothing came out of the nozzle and the gun clicked. A cartridge had jammed in the ejection.

As Slaine realized the gun had malfunctioned, the anger subsided and sorrow began to take its place and welling up from an overfilled well. He released a pathetic cry and began pulling at his uniform when his heart was about to get another attack. Or was it because he was enveloped by painful sorrow? The situation was so unbearable he did not know what to do with himself, and he began beating his fist against his chest as if trying to beat the pain out of him.

“Boy…” Saazbaum said and smiled weakly to raise his hand and tap his index finger against his head. “Finish it.”

Slaine put his other arm around him as he kept crying out loud and beating his chest desperately to make the pain stop. It was not him crying. It was his soul. He nearly doubled over from grief as he kept crying and screaming – his voice increasing for each moment he cried out.

A loud noise of gas expanding from a nozzle made him go silent. The sound was coming from behind him. Slowly, fearfully, he turned around to see a soft white cloud billow where the unmoving corpse of Asseylum lay. A fire extinguisher gushed out a freezing cloud of carbon dioxide to suffocate the fire that had burnt Asseylum’s corpse into something that looked like a black skeleton, and once the fire had been extinguished, the entire hangar became silent. The sound of the ocean reached into the hangar, and the crackling from the burning rubble made itself reminded as it got room due to the silence.

‘ _Orange…_ ’ Slaine thought and began walking up to the boy who lay on the deck and tried to reach for Asseylum’s corpse. ‘ _Don’t touch her…_ ’ he thought.

All he could see was Asseylum’s black and unmoving hand reach for the human boy, and Slaine gasped from his heart stinging horribly. Only now did Slaine realized Asseylum cared for the brunet – otherwise she had not reached out to him in her last moment of death. The other boy had not used her at all; he had tried to protect her.

‘ _But it’s all too late now…_ ’ Slaine thought as he walked closer. The boy decided the cursed princess was not dead. There was still hope he determined, and he would not let the brown-haired boy sully her corpse. ‘ _She’s not dead. Asseylum is still alive since she can’t be dead. There is still hope, and I won’t let you have her. Only I can save her now._ ’

†††

Inaho had managed to crawl over to the burning unmoving body of the cursed princess, and he had used his remaining strength to push down the handle on the fire extinguisher to suffocate the fire covering her. As the fire had slowly died, the boy had crawled up to the corpse. His broken ribs cut against his muscles and organs, but he did not care. His hand collapsed once as he raised it to touch the corpse to push it with the hopes of her still being alive, but he gritted his teeth and made a second attempt. As he had touched the corpse and it did not move, he dragged his body up next to the pile of ash and bone that lay before him; what was left of Seylum.

As he looked at the corpse, he took a deep breath and coughed. Blood splattered onto the deck in front of him.

‘ _I’ll die soon…_ ’ he thought and reached out a trembling hand to caress what was left of Seylum’s cheek. ‘ _I’m sorry, Seylum…_ ’

Something glistened in the light as a section of the cursed princess’s ashes collapsed around her chest. A burnt object came into view, and Inaho understood it was Slaine’s talisman. He frowned and reached for it to take it into his hand; it was still all right, but covered with soot. As expected of platinum due to its high melting point.

Numbers found their way into Inaho’s mind, and he thought about the number 1772. That was the degrees in Celsius it required to melt platinum – if the brunet could remember correctly from the chemistry classes back in school. He brushed his thumb over the intricate pattern and frowned as he caught himself thinking of something as trivial as the melting point of platinum in a still and painful moment like this.

‘ _Forgive me, Slaine…_ ’ he thought. ‘ _I can’t seem to even return this to you…_ ’

Something clicked behind him as if a gun was reloaded, and a dark voice that he recognized said:

“That’s enough.”

Inaho froze for a moment, and then turned to look over his shoulder. A silver crown came into view, and pale skin and a navy blue uniform followed.

‘ _Slaine!_ ’ he thought and looked up at the face of the boy standing behind him.

The blood sacrifice wore a murderous look on his face and pointed a gun toward him. Inaho could not understand why the silver-crowned boy looked at him like that since the brunet had tried to protect her with everything he had to shield her with.

“Don’t touch her,” Slaine said, and Inaho realized the gentle boy was looking back at him from somewhere behind that angry look of Bat – probably desperately hiding from the pain floating in the silent hangar. “… Orange.”

The brunet smiled from relief with exhausted lips, and he shifted his body to make a last attempt to push himself up from the floor. He pulled the talisman with him, and the chain snapped. He would return it to the one it belonged to.

Weakly, with several attempt, he slowly got up onto his knees while his ribs cut into his organs and flesh inside him, and Bat waited patiently. The pain was long gone, the boy realized, enabling him to give the blood sacrifice – Seylum’s dearest – a bow of forgiveness for not being able to protect her or their fragile relationship. As he was on his knees, sitting in a formal position, he looked up at the silver-crowned boy with his hazy vision, as if his sight had begun to disappear.

The power in Slaine’s eyes made it felt as if the brunet – a mere peasant – knelt before a wild-hearted prince whom he would gladly serve.

“Bat…” he whispered. “Slaine…”

‘ _I’m so glad to see you are here and alive_ ,’ Inaho thought and was about to open his lips to let the silver-crowned boy know that he felt joy from seeing Slaine alive despite Seylum had died. ‘ _At least you are left…_ ’

“I’m-“ he began while weakly smiling, but then a loud bang echoed somewhere that interrupted him and-

Nothing.

Kaizuka Inaho was no more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  
> 
> _First Cour_  
>  _~fin~_  
> 


	20. This Side of Paradise – Sleeping Girl of the Sea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the second cour everybody!

The sea was unusually calm in early June. It was nearly as smooth as the surface of a mirror, and the sky that was covered by pale and grey clouds reflected on the water and turned it into a silver color. It was a beautiful sight and the calmness of the South China Sea made his ride pleasant. The summer sky looked somewhat ominous despite the calm air, and the young man knew it would rain when he least expected it; in tropical areas like Malaysia a downpour could come out of nowhere and then be gone as quickly as it came, making it impossible to predict when it would rain.

The fast rescue boat’s keel cut through the still surface with ease while the water jet engine rumbled beneath his feet in its enclosure below deck, and he steered the boat toward the shore of the Northeast part of Malaysia **.**

He was on enemy territory; the Western part of Malaysia had fallen under Vers’s rule, but the Eastern part was still under the control of human civilian rebels who desperately fought to keep their homes safe. The country was not interesting for the cursed creatures and mostly left the rebels alone.

The young man had been sent out by his lord to take a closer look of what seemed to look like an enemy camp, and he had confirmed it to be just that. It had been a small camp, however – which was not strong enough to alarm the Versian lord waiting for him back on the mother ship. Instead, he enjoyed the ride with the boat to clear his mind – the fresh sea air was good at pampering a tired mind, and nurse it back to health – and the young man decided his mission was over.

He steered the small boat toward the shore. Something pretty had caught his eye and he decided to bring it with him – as he always did when he was out scouting like this. Despite the area being under the enemy’s rule, it did not make him feel uneasy in any way. How many times had he done something as dangerous as this? How many times had he set his foot on the shore that was governed by the enemy simply to pick up a fragile treasure and bring it with him to the only place he could call a home?

The boat glided gently up on the soft sandy beach and the young man turned the engine and batteries off before jumping down into the ankle high water. The sea was quick to invade his boots and wet his feet as he stood there looking over the area, to make sure it was safe. He did not mind the water, though, and walked up on the beach and set course toward a grove where a couple of bushes with tropical flowers grew in the shade of trees.

What he had found was large and red trumpet-shaped flowers that smelled wonderful even from a distance. On his shoulder, a water proof bag hung just for this kind of occasion, and he took it down and laid it before his feet in the sand. With a small knife he had brought with him, he began cutting the branches with flowers, collecting them into a bouquet. He slowly filled the bag with flowers until it was filled to the brim, and then tucked the flowers carefully inside and closed the zipper to protect them from salt water as he was to sail back to the mother ship.

Just as he turned around toward the small boat waiting for him on the shore, a downpour surprised him as the heaven opened its floodgates. The young man hurried to the rescue boat and pushed it out at sea, and then hurried to climb on board and start the engine to leave the shore. The rain was so heavy his sight was obscured, and he checked the compass to make sure he was on the right course toward the mother ship.

Soon, someone called him on the radio:

“ _My lord. You should head back to the ship; the rain might make you sail astray_.”

The young man raised the radio to his lips from the control panel in front of him, and answered gently:

“Worry not. I checked the course at which Dioscuria is anchored. I take it the ship has not moved since I left it?”

“ _Negative. The machinery is still under overhaul_ ,” the voice on the other end answered. “ _We are where you left us_.”

“Very well. I am headed toward you. Prepare the davit,” the young man answered and put down the radio to increase speed up to forty three knots.

As he came up to the mighty ship and was raised on board, he was already soaked to the bone. He was greeted by Harklight and Saazbaum, who both looked relieved he had found back to the ship despite the heavy downpour. The young man immediately bowed respectfully to the cursed count while water dripped from his hair and clothes, nose and chin.

“Welcome back, Slaine. You managed to navigate yourself back through the rain. Any news?” the cursed count asked, and Slaine rose from his bowed position. His hair stuck to his face, but he did not mind it.

“There is a small enemy camp close to the shore, just as the images showed. They are most likely civilian rebels and are no threat to us,” he said and Harklight stepped up to him to offer the blond-haired young man a towel. “Thank you, Mister Harklight.”

“You should not call me ‘mister’, Sir Troyard,” the servant said troubled. “You are a vassal of Count Saazbaum while I am your manservant.”

“At the end of the day, you are still older than me,” Slaine answered with a smile. “Which makes me want to give you the respect you deserve.”

“At the end of the day, my lord,” Harklight continued to answer. “You are still a vassal and knight. I ask that you refrain from using ‘mister’ with me, my lord, since that is not fitting,” the older of the two blood sacrifices said, and Slaine sighed with a frowning smile.

Harklight was always so proper with the hierarchy while the blond respected his superiors but also respected those below him.

“Now, now,” Saazbaum said and smiled with a pleased smile as he looked at the young man who dried his face with the towel. “Thank you, Slaine. Your bravery to personally observe suspicious targets is quite helpful. Sending out an aircraft might alarm the enemies of our presence, which would be reckless and unnecessary now that we are doing maintenance,” Saazbaum said as he had listened to the young men exchange trivial words. “Were you out picking flowers again?”

“Oh, yes, my lord,” Slaine said smiling and took the bag down from his shoulder and opened it to check the flowers were all right. “I found beautiful red flowers today. I believe they are called Hibiscus, if my non-botanist mind remembers it correctly.”

“Was it on the same beach where you saw the enemy camp?” Saazbaum asked suspiciously.

“Yes, it was, my lord,” the blond young man answered and collected the flowers from the bag to hold them in his rain-soaked arms. “I did make sure it was safe before I went ashore.”

Saazbaum looked displeased despite Slaine’s attempt to assure him.

“Slaine… You keep exposing yourself to danger like that. I advise you to refrain from such situations, and you know why,” the cursed count continued and frowned with worry as he watched Slaine gently fuss over the bouquet in his arms by rearranging the flowers to form a prettier bouquet.

“Thank you for your concern, my lord, but there is no need to worry,” the young man said and bowed with gratitude. “I only go ashore if I find it safe enough, and never otherwise. Even though I am still to be cursed, I do have high awareness,” he continued and bowed to his master. “Now, excuse me, Lord Saazbaum, but I have trivial matters to tend to.”

The blond-haired vassal walked past the cursed count and Harklight followed him obediently. He heard Saazbaum sigh behind him, but knew it was one of those exacerbated sighs an elder would release to let a youngster know they were being unnecessarily reckless. The young vassal had grown used to it a long time ago – two years to be somewhat exact – and thought nothing about it.

If he was to obey his master, he would never be allowed out of his leash. He had to give himself a moment to relax, and he would only do that while roaming around on the sea with a small boat and enjoy the fresh sea air. Picking flowers was another way for him to relax his otherwise strained mind, and he would not allow anyone to take his coping strategies away from him.

‘ _My life is already controlled as it is. I need to be allowed to stretch my tired wings now and then_ ,’ he thought.

On their way down the ship’s narrow corridors, they heard a humming from inside a room to their left further down the passageway. Slaine immediately knew who it was since that humming was something he had grown used to as well, and he took one of the flowers from the bouquet and looked inside the room. A girl with marble-like skin was sitting in a wheelchair in front of a canvas that stood on a stance, and she was gently dabbing a brush against it that had been dipped in a bright yellow paint, slowly forming a brightly shining sun.

“I shall pretend that I have not noticed you, Slaine,” the cursed girl said with a quiet and calm feminine voice. “Go ahead and surprise me.”

Slaine smiled as he stepped into the room and walked up to her. As he reached out the flower over her shoulder, the cursed girl stopped painting and stared at it.

“An exotic flower for the beautiful Princess Lemrina,” he said gently and met the blue eyes of the cursed princess who looked over her shoulder before she took the flower and smiled proudly. Her pale hair rocked gently from her moving.

“Why, thank you, Sir Troyard,” she said amused and took an obligatory sniff of the flower and then looked surprised. “It smells better than the previous flowers you brought.”

“They do indeed,” the human young man answered and smiled. “I felt the scent all the way to the shore when I went to get them.”

Lemrina looked dissatisfied the moment she saw the large bouquet in Slaine’s arms, and said:

“But only one flower? Is that all I get from my future fiancé?”

Slaine tilted his head and smiled wryly.

“As for the moment, we are not engaged. Furthermore, these flowers are to replace the withered ones in the shared crew spaces. You know the flowers wither quickly since they are denied proper sunlight,” he explained. “Once we are engaged in the future, I promise I shall bring you a bigger bouquet than this once a week.” He then smiled somewhat teasingly. “Or are you jealous of the crew getting all the flowers?”

The cursed girl did not blush like Slaine expected most youths would when having their feelings pointed out like that; she was not an adolescent despite she looked like one. Behind that adolescent and beautiful face hid a woman nearly twice as old as Slaine; she was a full grown woman with the body of a fifteen year old girl that was stuck in time. Her age made her always seem much calmer than the eighteen year-old Slaine, and she was strong minded and knew what she wanted. Sometimes she even overwhelmed Slaine with her demands.

“I suspect the majority of those flowers are for the sleeping beauty and not for the crew,” Lemrina said and watched Slaine’s reaction closely.

Slaine felt a twinge in his chest, but managed to uphold a smile despite the sudden shift in the atmosphere.

“It would be an honor if you would paint these flowers beneath that sunny sky of yours,” he said and nodded toward the unfinished but beautifully painted canvas depicting a tropical morning. However, he knew she would paint other flowers of a completely different color as a protest, to let him know she was not happy with him picking flowers for another woman. “I shall leave you to paint in peace, my princess.”

The human vassal gave the cursed princess a bow, and then turned to walk out of the room.

“Speaking of suns,” Lemrina said with a smiling voice and Slaine stopped before exiting the room: “Would you kindly tell me a new story from Ancient Greece soon again? The stories never stop to bewilder me.”

Slaine felt like sighing, but he turned around and looked at her with a renewed smile.

“Ah. We did go through the story about Hyacinthus the last time, am I correct?” he asked, and Lemrina nodded.

“It was a tragic one,” the cursed girl said and smiled mischievously. “I like the tragic ones, so please tell me more.”

Slaine did not think much about the look in her eyes and, instead, thought for a while before looking at the sun in Lemrina’s painting.

“Speaking of suns,” the young man said, deliberately echoing the cursed princess’s words. “What about me telling you the story of Phaeton and the sun god Apollo later this evening?” he asked and the cursed girl smiled satisfied.

“A wonderful idea, Sir Troyard,” she answered and then turned around to continue painting, letting him know their conversation was over.

With that, Slaine left the room and headed down the corridor again with his servant following him without an order for doing so. Harklight was quite punctilious about his position as a blood sacrifice and a servant, and Slaine found it bothersome at times since it gave him no chance to actually get to know the young man. The servant and fellow blood sacrifice was the only one Slaine had whom he could entrust anything to, but because of their strictly professional relationship, nothing personal was exchanged between them.

“Would you kindly change some of the withering flowers in the shared crew spaces for me?” Slaine asked the man as they stopped outside a certain door, which always made the blond young man feel melancholy. The blond gave his servant half of the bouquet.

Harklight accepted the flowers while looking at Slaine with a troubled look. The blond knew why he looked so concerned, but he had already assured his caring servant he was all right so many times he should not need to do it again. Instead, Slaine picked up a key from inside his wet uniform, and then smiled to the older young man:

“I shall stay the rest of the day here. Once evening comes, could you remind me about the storytelling with Princess Lemrina?”

“Of course, young lord,” Harklight answered and bowed. “What time should be appropriate?”

Slaine thought for a while, but then answered:

“The sun sets around nine o’clock, which makes it a fitting time for the princess to spend time outside on flight deck.”

Harklight bowed again while safely holding the flowers in his arms, carefully to not crush them.

“I shall come back for you at that time, my lord,” the servant answered, and Slaine nodded.

“Thank you,” the younger man sighed. The tiredness was getting to him, and his servant noticed it but said nothing about it. “I see you later,” Slaine then said and unlocked the door to step into the dimmed room, and closed the door behind him. His sight landed on a small girl with neatly braided hair who was also wearing a monochrome uniform of a maid. She had just recently changed the clothes of a body lying on a bed. “How is she?” he asked as he stepped into the room.

“Nothing new, Sir Troyard,” the little girl answered with the shrill voice of a child while looking downhearted. It was bizarre the little girl was older than Slaine.

“Thank you for your hard work, Eddelrittuo,” the blond young man then said and walked over to look at the girl lying in bed. “You can take a rest now. I shall look after her for a couple of hours.”

Eddelrittuo nodded and looked at Slaine with knitted eyebrows, clearly concerned for him just like Harklight.

“Will you sacrifice blood for her again? You did that last week, Sir Troyard. Please, do take care of yourself,” Eddelrittuo said and determinedly waited for Slaine’s answer before leaving him.

Slaine chuckled gently.

“Thank you, Eddelrittuo,” he said softly. “Worry not. Besides, I feel self-conscious that you care so much for me after being hostile toward me before the war. I am a blood sacrifice after all; I do not deserve your concern.”

Eddelrittuo looked at him with a scowl, but then her eyes softened and she raised her small hands to take a hold of Slaine’s that rested on the stems of the flowers. Her hands were cold, but her touch was warm.

“You deserve all the respect, Sir Troyard,” she said quietly. “You protected me from Count Saazbaum’s anger and you let me take care of Her Highness along with you. You are a fine young man, and I ask for your forgiveness for how I treated you in the past.”

Slaine shook his head and his smile faded somewhat.

“Thank you…” he said quietly. “The past is in the past.”

“It is, but you seem to be the only one who cannot let it go,” Eddelrittuo said and gave Slaine’s hand a gentle squeeze before letting him go. “Call me if you need me, my lord,” she then continued and left the room.

The moment the door closed behind him and was locked, Slaine raised his eyes to look at the girl lying still on the bed. Naturally, there was no breathing or movement since she was not animated, but she was still – paradoxically – very much alive.

“I have returned, Princess Asseylum,” he whispered and walked up to her bedside and look at her still charred face that had gotten back some of the recognizable features of his secretly beloved.  “Your sister is quite jealous of you.” Asseylum gave no reaction, and Slaine felt sorrow engulf him. “How are you feeling?” he whispered instead and reached out a hand to touch her, but pulled it back before his fingertips had reached her broken skin.

The distant echoes of steps resounded in his memories.

“ _I have finished off one of the human soldiers who have been a thorn in our side, and I have finally made up my mind_ ,” he heard his own voice say in the back of his mind.

It had been nineteen months ago he had stepped up to the weakened cursed count on board Tharsis after shooting the human boy who had been nothing but trouble. Count Saazbaum’s exhausted expression had stared back at him with confusion as the boy had dropped down on his right knee to honor the cursed count’s superiority in the hierarchy.

“ _Please forgive me for all the wrongs I have done to you in the past, and am sure to do in the future, master. Other enemy soldiers are still on board, and I ask of you to save one of them and give her to me since I am aware of you sending plenty of soldiers here that will kill the threat_ ,” he had continued while thinking of the child-like girl called Eddelrittuo, whom he had met in the corridor earlier that night.

Count Saazbaum had patiently waited for the boy to continue and finish stating his business, and Slaine had not been hesitant to continue:

“ _While Tharsis is a battleground, I suggest we head back to Dioscuria … and take Princess Asseylum with us._ ”

The boy had known it had been a bold criteria but he had also been confident about Saazbaum being sure Slaine would not hesitate to kill him in case the cursed count would refuse him. Slaine had been pointing the gun toward him after all, after he had shot and killed Orange with a bullet to the head.

“ _In exchange_ ,” the boy had continued, since he knew he had to give something more than only Saazbaum’s life in order to save his secretly beloved and be allowed to keep her safe. “ _I shall become the prince you want me to be, and I shall marry the chosen princess you are hiding and teaching. I humbly ask for your guidance as well to mold me into the puppet you need me to be. Will you die with your ambitions unrealized, or will you accept my offer?_ ” Saazbaum had smiled and looked at Slaine with pride.

“ _Did Harklight tell you all that?_ ” the man had asked, but Slaine had tightened his finger around the trigger while staring at the cursed count:

“ _Your decision, please._ ”

In the end, Saazbaum had agreed with a sinister smile playing on his lips. Ever since then, Slaine had been true to his word since the charred Asseylum had been the leash Saazbaum had put on the young man. If Slaine did not obey, he knew Saazbaum would punish him by taking Asseylum away from him.

That night, nineteen months ago, Slaine had handed over the ownership of his own life to Saazbaum, who had ever since then taught Slaine the ways of a proper representative and figurehead of the slowly changing Vers.

The boy – who was now a young man – would, when Saazbaum had ensured his new system of society to take the place of the old feudal system, become an Emperor with no executive power next to an Empress. Vers’s system would change drastically to become fairer for the cursed society, but crueler for the humans who were forced into the already existing colonies consisting of blood sacrifices, governed by Vers. The process would be slow since it meant the majority of the current cursed nobility had to agree with the count, since they possessed enough power to threaten Saazbaum’s still fragile dream.

Slaine knew Asseylum would be angry at him for allowing something outrageous as that to happen to the humans; to be forced into becoming blood sacrifices simply to feed the population of Vers, but the young man could not let himself be bothered by something like worrying for people he did not know. All Slaine wished for was to keep his secretly beloved safe, and he could not give a damn about the rest of the world.

“I was out picking flowers again, my princess,” Slaine whispered to her and looked to the vase standing on her nightstand. It contained withering flowers he had picked two days earlier. “Their scent is sweeter, which makes me believe you would appreciate them more. Your sister enjoyed her flower a lot,” he continued and replaced the withering flowers with the new bouquet and then sat down on an armchair next to the princess’s bed to begin preparing a cannula. “I will have to entertain her later tonight to keep her happy, but, before that, you need your share of blood to heal.”

He talking to the undead corpse of his beloved was like a madman speaking to a wall. Even if Asseylum was ever so slowly healing, she would never wake up and answer him. Despite that, Slaine kept speaking to her with the hopes of keeping her company in case she was aware of her surroundings, since he hated the idea of her being locked inside a broken body while the world outside her shell kept revolving like it always had.

Slaine removed his soaked uniform and tied a tourniquet around his arm, cleaned the skin on his arm over the vein he was going for, and punctured it with the cannula until he saw a flashback of blood in the base of the cannula. He advanced the plastic tubing of the cannula deeper into the vein until it was completely inserted, and then released the tourniquet and needle – leaving only the plastic component in his arm. He continued with inserting a bung on the end of the cannula, and then secured it with a dressing to keep it still. A tube was connected to the bung, and its end was attached to a bung to another tube that reached down Asseylum’s throat, all the way down to her stomach.

For a while now, Slaine would feed her with his untainted blood. He had stopped taking his heart medication and tried to live as healthy as he could without stress or strain making his heart ache. Saazbaum had forbidden Harklight to sacrifice blood to the former princess since he believed Asseylum was solely Slaine’s responsibility. It had left Slaine to be the only one who sacrificed blood to his beloved, which put him in a difficult situation:

A vampire needed blood every three of four days to function normally, depending on their energy consumption, while a wounded vampire needed a lot of blood instantly in order to heal quickly. Since Slaine had to be functional himself, he could not sacrifice blood often, nor could he sacrifice a lot of it. It left Asseylum in a starved state, which kept her in an inanimate state and made her heal slowly enough Slaine could hardly notice a change once it happened.

If he thought back to how she had looked like nineteen months ago, then he could see a great change in her slow healing process. Her hair had begun to grow back; it was now long enough to soon reach her shoulders, and her skin had healed but was still rough to the touch; patches of it was still too thin to be considered healthy and durable. She looked severely emaciated, though – making her look like someone who had been starving for a very long time.

‘ _And she has…_ ’ Slaine sighed. ‘ _I’m sorry I can’t give you more blood; I would give all of it if I could._ ’

In order to give her blood, he had stopped entirely with the beta-blockers to treat his heart condition. It meant he had to find other ways to prevent a new heart attack and keep himself calm. It was difficult, however; his life was so controlled by Saazbaum that it sometimes overwhelmed him, and Lemrina’s constant demands of being entertained or kept happy were suffocating him. On top of that, he and Harklight were the only blood sacrifices on board who were allowed in the corridors of the ship; human war prisoners – captured solely to become cattle to be fed upon by the vampires – were being kept in locked rooms. This meant that the nightmarish reality of a cursed ship was still as real as it had been nineteen months ago.

‘ _I’m nothing but a prisoner forced to serve and please my master and future betrothed_ ,’ Slaine thought and felt his heart twinge. He frowned with worry and closed his eyes to take a deep and calming breath. ‘ _Stay calm…_ ’ he chanted and kept breathing to cope with the frustration corroding his mind ever so slowly.

†††

“ _All hands! This is an order from your captain. A vampire has gotten on board and is currently on flight deck! Intercept him!_ ”

“ _Identify its generation!_ ”

‘ _Fifth generation… It’s a baron_ ,’ a thought said in his mind as he watched the movement of the enemy creature on the flight deck below him and listened to the distressed voices on the open radio channel. He adjusted the headset in his ear and squinted his right eye to protect it from the quivering wind from the helicopter’s rotary wings cutting through the air. The cursed creature’s movements were easily identified as a fifth generation vampire’s by his trained and inhumanly focused eye; the cursed baron on deck dodged the bullets shot by the human soldiers as if he saw them coming from far away.

“ _It has incendiary grenades! Protect the aircrafts so they won't catch fire!_ ”

“ _Lockdown! Put the ship in lockdown to prevent the creature getting inside!_ ”

The radio suddenly exploded with screams for help as a grenade had been thrown by the enemy and a cloud of fire erupted on the deck. Orders were yelled by familiar voices the boy in the helicopter had not heard for nearly a year; he heard the voice of the captain and her executive officer. The panic was growing on the flight deck after the first explosion had gone off once the freely roaming cursed baron had thrown his first grenade toward a crowd of human soldiers shooting at it.

‘ _The baron is on a suicide mission_ ,’ the brunet in the helicopter concluded as he watched the humans panic on the deck below. The wind from the rotorcraft’s propellers caused a whirlwind that tousles his dark hair, and the soon to be young man squinted and brushed away a strand of hair that had gotten stuck behind the eyepatch covering his left eye socket. ‘ _If he had some other kind of mission, he would have reinforcement with him; he's all alone on this mission_ ,’ he then thought and was about to call the ship’s captain on the radio when someone interrupted him:

“ _Hold your fire! Chief Petty Officer Areash moving out!_ ” a female and husky voice said in the radio. The voice rang with incredible nostalgia in the brunet’s ear as he heard it.

A figure – entirely clad in sun protective armor – entered the deck from the superstructure and ran toward the enemy on board. It was the movement of an eighth generation vampire.

‘ _Rayet…_ ’ he thought and weakly curved his lips to a slight smile as he watched the eighth generation vampire dash toward the enemy baron, throwing herself through the air with a knife in hand and missed the enemy who dodged her attack with ease. ‘ _You’re three generations younger than the baron; the enemy will dodge your attacks before you manage to hit._ ’ The sight was entertaining, though; Rayet’s movements had gotten more coordinated, as if she had been trained to fight in close combat. Nineteen months ago, she had been fighting strongly but been taking chances a lot more than she did now. She was presently aware of what she needed to do. ‘ _Now I remember_ ,’ the brunet mused. ‘ _I thought of training you back then. I guess someone else did that in my place._ ’

A gun went off that broke the engagement between the two cursed creatures; Rayet skipped back and the cursed baron dodged the bullets before running toward the cursed girl again.

“Captain Magbaredge,” he said calmly as he watched the two vampires engage in a fight for the second time, calling the ship's captain through the headset he wore. “Tell your men to fall back or they might cripple Chief Petty Officer Areash. I'm going to engage with the baron as well.”

He heard the captain call his name with surprise when the brunet took a hold of the helicopter’s door frame with his leather covered hands, and then stepped out of the helicopter that was still at least 20 meters up in the air. Gravity pulled him mercilessly down as he fell and he made sure his feet touched the flight deck parallel to each other and made a forward roll to break the impact of his fall, and then got up on his feet. Without hesitation, he dashed toward the enemy baron who was busy pushing the cursed girl toward the edge of the deck.

“Hey!” the brunet yelled as he was close to the cursed creatures, pulling the enemy's attention to himself.

As the cursed baron was distracted and turned to look toward the one calling for him so closely behind his back, the other vampire held in the baron's grip swung her leg through the air and landed a kick in the enemy's back, causing cursed baron to lose his footing and stumble forward toward the brunet.

“ _Inaho?!_ ” he heard a female voice say in the radio headset. It was one of his childhood friends.

The brown-haired boy had no moment to answer the call; he skipped through the air and turned gracefully around before landing behind the enemy who had just stopped stumbling. With a swift movement, he took a hold of the cursed baron's helmet by the strap underneath his chin, and was immediately attacked with a hand trying to slice against his throat. The boy was faster; he saw the enemy's assault come at him and read his movement, and had enough time to evade the claws by taking a step back without letting the enemy's helmet go.

Instead, the cursed baron reached out his hands toward the brunet’s throat and grabbed it to squeeze it, and the boy tugged hard on the helmet's strap and broke the buckle, quickly continuing with pulling the enemy’s helmet off. From beneath the sun protective helmet, dark shoulder-long hair and a surprised expression of a pale creature came into view. The enemy baron stared shocked at the brunet before he reacted to the UV radiation.

“B-but why…?!” the cursed baron said shocked before feeling the sun scorch his translucent skin. “You move like a vampire, but the sun…!”

The pain from the burning light attacked the cursed creature so suddenly he began screaming with horrific pain before managing to end his sentence. It reminded the boy of a scream he had heard nineteen months ago that had sounded just as painful. His still beating heart stung as the painful memory resurfaced, but he managed to not react to the memory. Instead, he took a strong grip of the fifth generation vampire by grabbing him by his throat with the strength of a fourth generation vampire, and, with the other hand, took a hold of the screaming enemy's chin to turn his head until the cursed creature's neck snapped and the enemy went limp in his grip.

The enemy kept screaming from pain but could not move his body beneath the neck fracture. The boy felt nothing as he watched and listened to the enemy be in pain and, instead, walked over to the edge of the deck and held the cursed creature above the billowing sea below. A second later, he flattened his hand with fingers tightly pushed together, took aim and then put as much force behind his attack as possible. With a quick and smooth motion, he drove his gloved hand through the screaming enemy's head and felt it exit from the back. The enemy went instantly silent while his skin still burned, and the boy pulled his hand out of the cursed creature’s skull and released the now deceased enemy into the sea before the corpse would catch fire completely.

The boy raised his other hand to the headset and said to the captain who he would now serve under once again:

“The enemy is incapacitated and thrown overboard.”

‘ _How anti-climatic_ ,’ he thought and watched the corpse of the enemy be pushed up against the hull of the ship by the waves. As he observed the result of his short battle, he removed the bloodied glove and threw it down into the sea as well. He was grateful the encounter had been so short and effortless, but he had still not grown used to the strength he harbored.

He looked up toward an aircraft a couple of meters away and saw a burnt wing. ‘ _Ah… Its wing is damaged from the grenade. I wonder if its Calm’s… If it is, I bet he’ll be angry._ ’

He had heard his childhood friend had gotten the title of Plane Captain of the Fighter Attack squadron on board – someone who was responsible for maintenance and inspections on one of the squadron’s aircrafts. The title and duty suited Calm, Inaho thought; it was filled with heavy responsibilities that forced the boy to grow up.

Luckily, as the brunet took a closer look of the aircraft, he could not see Calm’s name or hometown being stenciled on its belly; another name came into view but it was not Calm’s; no one was allowed to touch a plane captain’s aircraft without their approval since the aircraft was their dearly beloved piece of artwork.

“ _Well done, Kaizuka Junior!_ ” he heard captain Magbaredge say with great relief. She sighed to release stress; the speaker in Inaho’s ear crackled from her breath hitting her microphone.

“Ensign Inaho Kaizuka reporting. I have been assigned to your ship per orders from General Headquarters,” Inaho said into the headset and squinted from the bright summer sun trying to blind him.

“ _Welcome back_ ,” his captain said with a voice that sounded as if she was smiling. “ _It is an honor to have you on board, Junior Officer Kaizuka_.”

“You never change, do you? I'm glad to see you're all right,” he heard Rayet’s voice say behind him and he turned around to look at the girl who wore a helmet to protect her from the sun. “It's been lonely here without you. Have they been treating you well back in the facility?”

“It’s good to be back,” the brunet said and gave her a smile. “I have been treated the way I should as a cursed human; they pushed me to my limits and I pushed them,” he then answered her question.

Rayet released an amused scoff and said:

“Inaho Kaizuka… The world’s first half human and half vampire. It makes me kind of jealous.”

“Don’t be,” the brunet answered. “The curse is a tremendous strain on the human bod-“

He was interrupted by someone yelling his name and his highly sensitive ears caught the noise of running steps coming closer from his left – the side that had been robbed of his eyesight by the silver-crowned boy nineteen months ago. He could make out three people running toward him and, to compensate for the lack of vision, he turned to look toward where the steps were coming from.

Inko, Calm and Nina came running toward him and Rayet, all three having smiles as bright as the sun on their faces.

“Inaho!” the girl with the darkest hair cried and was the first to run up to him. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him so close their bodies collided together. “I've missed you so much,” she then whispered. “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” the brunet answered somewhat surprised, and then looked at Calm and Nina, who both waited for their turn to welcome the seventeen year old boy back.

As Inko refused to let go of the brunet, Inaho heard Calm sigh with a smile:

“Welcome back, buddy. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah, welcome back!” Nina said with her shrill voice and blushed from happiness to see him. “You have to tell us what you’ve been up to! I heard they made scary experiments on you.”

Inaho knew the rumors of his rare condition had put the minds of his friends’ to work and they had probably imagined a lot of things that was not true. It was true the scientists who worked for the UN had conducted experiments on him for several months after he had woken up, but he had not been in pain that had been forced on him; if the experiment would have hurt him, he had been allowed to choose to participate or decline. Naturally – since Inaho took his condition as a cursed human seriously – he had gone through all of their experiments without a single complaint, giving the scientists as much data as he possibly could.

“ _You were nearly dead the moment they brought you in_ ,” he had been told by his assigned doctor at the General Headquarter after he had woken up. “ _You were put under life support while your sister tried to decide what she would do; let you go or keep you alive for a little longer, and then you suddenly showed life signs and woke up. It is incredible!_ ”

The scientists had interrogated his sister and friends, trying to figure out what had happened to him after the battle on board the enemy ship he remember was named Tharsis. It had turned out that the cursed princess’s blood that had splattered on his face during the battle on the enemy ship, had been the cause for his condition: When his sister had finally found him bleeding from the gunshot to the head and had thought he was certainly going to die, she had started to cry along with Inko – who apparently had screamed her heart out thinking she had lost him; the boy she loved. Yuki’s tears had dripped onto his cheeks and run down his face as she had been holding him, and a single tear had been caught in the princess’s blood and then rolled into his mouth from between his lips – infecting him with a broken curse.

‘ _Dr. Troyard’s papers would be further completed with this data_ ,’ Inaho had realized and remembered back to the time when he and the cursed princess had been speaking about the morbid but important work of Slaine’s father’s. It had been true the curse in the princess’s blood had deteriorated outside of its host, but it had still been alive enough to infect a human boy. However, it had been weak enough to not kill him. ‘ _I can walk in the sun and eat and drink, and do everything a human can. I can also fight with the strength of a fourth generation vampire; the strength I wished for; the strength unintentionally granted to me by Seylum – even if it’s not entirely safe either…_ ’

“I’m glad you’re back,” Inko then finally said and released him to look at him, and Inaho awoke from his memories at her suddenly speaking. Her hands still rested on his hips, silently telling him how much she had missed him. “You haven’t changed much since last time I hugged you; you still feel the same.” She got a heavy blush on her cheeks and so did Nina, who probably knew about Inko’s feelings toward the boy.

“Back at you,” the brunet smiled and put a gentle hand on the girl’s shoulder. “I’m glad you look well, Inko.”

Rayet chuckled and shook her head with disbelief:

“I take it back what I said earlier; you have changed quite a bit,” she said with kind amusement. “Now, you can make polite small talk, which is a breath of fresh air considering it’s you.”

Inaho raised his eyebrows somewhat and turned to look at her.

“That’s not really a compliment,” he said and felt taken aback by her comment. He had been working hard with his communication skills and was somewhat disappointed by Rayet’s remark.

“By the way,” Calm interrupted them and looked curious. “Why did you come back, Inaho? I thought you were to train soldiers on how to face vampires.”

The brunet turned to look at him instead.

“It’s true it was my assignment, but the enemy ships outside of Malaysia caught my interest,” Inaho answered and they all raised their eyebrows. “You were ordered to investigate their presence now that Deucalion’s construction has been finished entirely. I asked to be allowed to assist you.”

“Was that your reason?” Nina asked surprised. “Why?”

“To protect you all, of course,” he said and was given smiles from all of his friends around him.

‘ _And to investigate where_ he _is located…_ ’ he secretly thought as he was pulled along by his friends inside the ship. The image of a silver-crowned boy popped up into his mind.

†††

A knock awoke him and Slaine opened his eyes with a start. As he realized where he was, he took a deep gasp to breathe life into his tired body and looked at the cursed girl in front of him. She was still lying in the inanimate state she had been in for a year and a half, slumbering like a sleeping beauty waiting for someone to wake her up.

‘ _A kiss of true love…_ ’ Slaine thought and sighed. ‘ _There's no such thing, is there_?’ Even if there were, he would not be the one to give his secretly beloved such a kiss; not after what he had done.

Another knock was heard and a voice followed:

“ _My lord? It is time for you to see Princess Lemrina_ ,” he heard the familiar voice of his servant say from the other side of the door, and Slaine looked up toward the cold iron gate separating him from the rest of the ship.

“Thank you, Harklight,” Slaine answered with forced happiness in his voice and took a deep breath a second time before he stood up from the armchair next to the sleeping princess's bed and dressed in a spare uniform hanging in the wardrobe in a neighboring room.

His muscles protested from tiredness as he moved toward the door and, before he opened it, he leaned his forehead against it and yawned. He was so tired he only wanted to sleep, but he knew Lemrina would never accept him breaking a promise. She was greedy about him – claiming all of his existence because Saazbaum had promised the blond young man was to be given to her once he had gotten the gift of the curse; the human vassal needed to grow some more until Saazbaum was satisfied with Slaine's age.

Slaine had been forced to accept these exhausting conditions without the right to complain, for the sake of his slumbering beauty; Asseylum Vers Allusia, the first and former princess of Vers Empire. If he disobeyed, the only one who would fall victim for his defiance was Asseylum.

Slaine collected himself for a short moment while supporting his slumped body against the door, and then took a last deep breath and straightened his back, opened his eyes to look awake, and stepped out of the room after opening the door.

“Good evening,” Slaine said to Harklight with a smile. “Thank you for waking me.”

Harklight smiled back with a slightly worried look to his kind eyes. Slaine knew the manservant was aware of him feeling cornered and thought of his situation as if he was kept in a tight leash squeezing his throat. The blond young man let himself be controlled and only allowed himself to break apart behind that certain door he had just stepped through. Harklight – the fellow human and blood sacrifice – was worried for the young man whose shoulders weighed the heaviest on board the ship, and he let the blond know with silent messages. All Slaine could do was to put up a durable front and pretend he was strong when spending time outside the room, and assure those who worried he was feeling fine despite it was not true.

‘ _It’s more a hassle having people care about you, than pretend to be all right_ ,’ he thought.

“How is she?” Harklight asked, and Slaine kept smiling as he locked the door and then began walking down the corridor to find the cursed princess waiting for him.

“The same as always,” the blond young man answered. “The weather outside?”

“Warm and windless, my lord,” the servant answered as he followed Slaine with a respectable distance between them; far enough to give the blond knight personal space, but close enough to quickly serve him if needed.

Lemrina was found in Saazbaum’s office, speaking with the cursed count about the next motivational speech she would give the Versian soldiers who still fought to avenge her sister who had been pronounced dead nineteen months ago. The cursed population was unaware of Asseylum still being in existence in the form of a prisoner and an object of consolation for the child she had saved seven years ago.

Eddelrittuo stood next to Lemrina with her tiny hands knitted together, waiting for an order from the cursed princess and made sure to stay out of everyone’s way – like a servant should.

“Ah!” Saazbaum said proudly as Slaine was asked to step inside the office. The cursed man stood up from his chair and walked up to him to inspect the human young man. “I see you did not catch a cold from the rain earlier.”

“No, sir. Thank you for your concern,” the blond-haired vassal answered and gave his superior a bow. “I came to fetch Her Highness for a time of storytelling. Perhaps she wants to accompany me out on deck during this fine evening?”

“Out on deck?” Lemrina asked with a satisfied look in her eyes, resembling a purring cat. “Why, I would love to.”

“It honors me, Princess Lemrina,” Slaine said and smiled gently, bowing to her as well.

Eddelrittuo gave Slaine a sorrowful frown; he knew she found it sad to see him as someone who was forced to constantly please the strong-willed cursed princess. The handmaiden strongly disliked seeing the human young man in the situation he was in; be nothing but a puppet for bloodthirsty beasts.

“It joys me to see you two together,” Saazbaum then said and put a hand on Slaine’s shoulder to stand behind the human young man like a proud father. “You shall become a powerful couple in the future.”

Lemrina chuckled with a coyly raised eyebrow as she met Slaine’s gaze.

“Indeed – once Sir Troyard here has been cursed, that is. I am getting tired of waiting, Count Saazbaum,” she said, and Slaine heard his lord snort before he would continue to answer her.

“Patience, Princess Lemrina,” Slaine hurried to say; he strongly disliked to listen to the two of the cursed creatures speak about him as if he was an object and not present in the room. It was hurtful, he thought, since they spoke about something drastic and horrible as the curse and argued about when it was the right time to turn the human young man no matter if he wanted to or not.

He had never even thought the thought of someone else to turn him but his secretly beloved; Asseylum’s curse was the only curse he could have been able to stand. The horror and terror of turning would have been worth it to become a part of her and her family, but, now, it was impossible. Two cursed creatures tried to decide when he would turn, and he would not have a say in it since he had already agreed to it by selling his soul to the devil. He would be forced to face the fear of dying and experience his second birth as a creature who would forever be shrouded in darkness.

“I suggest we hurry along before the night becomes chilly, my princess,” he continued, desperately changing the topic of conversation. To be cursed terrified him, and he bravely tried to cope with the thought of the foreboding moment when a cursed creature’s blood would wet his throat, by trying to ignore it completely.

Lemrina moved closer on her wheelchair and held out her hand for Slaine to take, and the blond did as she silently ordered him to.

“It seems you are the one who is being impatient, Sir Troyard,” she remarked with sharp eyes, noticing Slaine’s quick attempt to change the topic of discussion. “Pull me up.”

Slaine confusedly did as told and pulled her up from the wheelchair onto unsteady legs. She staggered and Slaine grabbed her to prevent her from falling.

“Careful, Your Highness,” he said quietly with worry.

As Lemrina stood steadily, she reached her arms around Slaine’s neck and peered into his eyes. Slaine felt a chill down his spine as he looked back at her icy marbles staring back at him, noticing the clear difference between her and Asseylum, who had had a warm look rather than calculating and demanding like her sister’s.

Her arms felt like snakes around his neck and the human young man wanted to shiver.

“I would like to walk with you out on deck,” she said, and Slaine immediately knew what she meant. “Have you taken your medication?”

“No, my princess…” the human young man answered obediently. “I only take it during emergencies. Although, I have sacrificed blood a couple of hours earlie-“

“To her?” Lemrina interrupted him – undoubtedly thinking about her older sister.

“Yes,” Slaine answered and watched the cursed girl’s angered eyes glare back at him.

She was so jealous of her sister who was being looked after by the young man Lemrina sought and lusted for. She hated the thought of Slaine only having eyes for her older sister.

‘ _I don’t love you_ ,’ Slaine thought with frustration while he waited for Lemrina’s next words. ‘ _I don’t want your love – I never have and never will_.’

“How much did she get from you?” the angered princess wanted to know, and Slaine answered while holding back a defeated sigh:

“Just enough, Your Highness.”

“Good,” the demanding princess answered and then pulled down Slaine’s high collar to his uniform and leaned closer to his neck.

The young man’s hairs stood up from his skin crawling due to the helpless situation of him being forced to feed the cursed princess willingly. Before Lemrina’s needlelike teeth sunk into his neck, he saw Eddelrittuo squeeze her lips together into a thin line before raising one of her tiny hands to cover them. Pity shone in her eyes as they looked at each other for a short moment, before Slaine winced from the sting of the bite and bumped against Saazbaum behind him as he was surprised by the cursed princess’s assault.

The count’s strong hands steadied him by holding him up as the venom numbed his mind and body, and Slaine slumped against the admiral as his knees gave way beneath him. As Lemrina released him and stood on her own feet without support, he heard them speak about him before his mind was completely cleared from the venom. Only later – when his thoughts and emotions returned – would he feel offended and frustrated of their words:

“Why is he allowed to keep her dead body in that room? I thought he belonged to me?”

“Her corpse keeps him motivated and obedient. You should not worry or be too hard on him, my princess. Your sister will not be a problem for years to come since he is the only one feeding her, which means her not getting enough blood to wake up.”

“What if he decides to cut his own wrist and bleed out for her?”

“That will not happen. He knows I will kill her with ease were she to wake up. I am of second generation while your sister is a third generation vampire – remember that, Princess Lemrina.”

Slaine knew Lemrina loved him to the point of her desire having turned unreasonable. He could not blame her since he, too, was a passionate and demented creature who slept in the same room as the carcass of his true and only love – night after night. He lost his mind for her, gave his life for her… He would tear down the heavens and shatter the sky for her if he was only allowed to.

‘ _Asseylum…_ ’ he thought as his mind began to wake up from the effects of Lemrina’s venom.

To carry her frustration and desperation was heavy and straining; he was the only source for Lemrina’s happiness, and he was not able to grant her the biggest joy she wished for; himself.

When he awoke, he realized a single tear had rolled down his cheek and something soft dabbed it away. As he opened his hazy eyes, he saw Eddelrittuo reach toward his cheek, gently wiping away the traces of his tear with a handkerchief.

‘ _I am so saturated with grief that I cannot hold back tears when I lose control…_ ’ he thought and thanked the petite girl with a slow blink.

Eddelrittuo nodded back and then backed away from him.

“Welcome back, Slaine,” he heard Saazbaum’s voice say somewhere close behind him, and Slaine blinked the haziness out of his eyes and forced his body to stand. Saazbaum had been holding him up during the entire time he had been under the venom’s spell. “How are you feeling?”

“It-“ Slaine began to say but felt unsteady enough his lord had to stabilize him for a moment before he could stand properly. “It is no problem, my lord; I feel fine.”

“Shall we go then, Sir Troyard?” Lemrina’s voice asked, and Slaine looked up at her.

He hesitated to answer for a short moment as he stared at her, letting her know she had violated him moments earlier. Lemrina gave no reaction and patiently waited, and the blond-haired young man finally nodded and asked:

“Yes, of course, Your Highness. Would you kindly give me the honor to escort you out on deck?”

They parted from the others and set course through the narrow passageways toward flight deck. Harklight and Eddelrittuo would stand on standby in case they were needed, and Saazbaum was left to continue his paperwork.

The cursed princess moved with ease and strength now that she had been fed with the blood of her future fiancé, and Slaine walked with her arm in arm while listening to her speak about the quality of the paint she had gotten with the last delivery. The blond-haired young man did not listen wholeheartedly since he felt fatigued from the blood sacrifice, but did his best to nod and answer with an interested tone.

“The Italian paint is the best. It moves so smoothly over the canvas,” Lemrina said and lifted the skirt of her dress, just enough to be able to step over the watertight doorframe without accidentally tripping on the hem. “I cannot wait until we get to Europe again,” she then complained.

“Patience, my princess,” Slaine smiled and held her hand as she stepped over the watertight door. “It was you who wished to come with Count Saazbaum to see the world, did you not?”

Lemrina peered at him from the corner of her eyes.

“Are you telling me I should blame myself?” she asked with pretended resentment, and Slaine chuckled.

“You are fairly correct, Your Highness,” he said and watched Lemrina smile as well. She got a healthy humanlike blush on her cheeks after drinking his blood.

“And I believe you are correct as well, Sir Troyard,” she said and then sighed. “I should blame myself that I cannot get a hold of the paint I need.”

“The human freight lines have successfully been blocked since half a year ago,” Slaine explained. “We control most of the sky and sea in this area and around Vers, which means the humans have little to no supplies left and have to ration in order to get by. Goods from Europe are especially difficult to find here in Asia.”

“Which also means I cannot get a hold of the paint I want,” the cursed princess said, and they both chuckled before Slaine answered:

“Indeed, Your Highness. It is all about the paint.”

Slaine had to be fair and admit he enjoyed the cursed princess’s company when they had a relaxed discussion like this. Behind all that bitterness and jealousy was a woman who had the heart of a child. Lemrina was playful in her ways when she was allowed to be nothing but a living character, not bound by politics or the indoctrinated manners of a royal.

To be under the pressure, which Saazbaum put onto them both, suffocated them as individuals since all they were allowed to do was what the cursed count thought was in line with the roles he wanted them to have; a princess and a soon to be prince of Vers. Anything that fell outside those roles had been schooled out of them, which left a tremendous frustration and bitterness to dwell in their hearts instead.

No living being – be it alive or undead – felt fine in such strict roles, and that frustration slipped from between the cracks of its cell when Slaine or Lemrina least expected it. In Slaine’s case, he rebelled by taking a private moment to sail on the sea with the fast rescue boat, and Lemrina’s frustration showed in her passive aggressive behavior toward him when she was hit by jealousy from Asseylum getting love from the man she wanted for herself.

Slaine and Lemrina were only allowed to be free when they were alone together. Their formalities were merely playfully sarcastic when being alone rather than sincere to relieve themselves from their heavy roles. It felt relaxing and gratifying in so many ways and Slaine hoped their private relationship would never change.

Despite the cursed princess abused him emotionally due to her unreasonable jealousy, the blond young man could still find plenty of moments where he shared candid smiles and honest laughs with his future fiancé. No matter how he tried to twist and turn their relationship, he had to admit they got along quite well – perhaps because both of them were in the same situation, or maybe because both of them were broken people.

‘ _We crack and crumble together_ ,’ the blond vassal thought as they reached the flight deck, where the flight crew was maintaining the few aircrafts that had been left on deck. ‘ _And we find comfort from seeing each other slowly fall into pieces_.’

The air was humid and warm, and the wind was so calm it was barely noticeable. The sounds of the ocean were quiet as well and drowned in the hiss and buzz from the mighty Dioscuria’s unnatural mechanical sounds. The evenings at sea were calming and soothing, gentle and refreshing; he would never grow tired of watching the large world spread out before him in the sunset.

“Slaine,” Lemrina suddenly said and dropped all of her formalities – sincere and pretended alike. She skipped forward and twirled around with her hands tied femininely behind her back, wearing an earnest look in her blue eyes. “Once I get a set of the Italian paint I like so much, could you let me waste them on a painting of you?” she then asked, and Slaine stopped and stared surprised at her for a moment. “I would appreciate it a lot if you would like to model for me,” she continued and blushed.

Slaine felt a blush on his cheeks as well, and he broke their eye contact to take a deep breath. Lemrina was a marvelous painter. Her paintings were honest and true to the objects and people she painted, and looked large even in a small frame. The way she used the colors gave the canvas a soul, and her sense of detail was so incredible that no matter how much Slaine stared at her paintings, he always saw something new in them.

“Your request is quite overwhelming, my princess,” the young man answered breathlessly and bowed to her with great respect. “It would be an honor to model for one of your exquisite paintings.”

He was thrilled and humble about her request, and the curiosity for how she would portray him awoke immediately.

As he stood up again and looked at his future fiancé, Lemrina gave him a soft smile that was rare on her beautiful face. It reminded Slaine of his secretly beloved and his heart stung. Lemrina and Asseylum truly were sisters; they had great similarities between each other despite they had been born from different mothers.

‘ _I can’t fight that smile_ ,’ Slaine thought and answered the cursed princess’s smile with a warm one.

Lemrina’s soft expression abruptly turned into beaming joy and she skipped up to Slaine to take a hold of his hands and pull him along toward the edge of the flight deck. The cursed girl sat down with her feet dangling from the edge of the deck and patted the asphalt next to her, inviting the blond-haired vassal to sit next to her.

Slaine obeyed with a smile and followed her example, dangling his feet above the safety net below, between the deck and surface of the sea, as well

“You promised me a story about Apollo and Phaeton earlier today, Sir Troyard. Would you kindly honor that promise now?” she then asked with a kind, rather than demanding, tone, and Slaine chuckled.

“Of course, Princess Lemrina,” he answered, and the story took form from there on, with Lemrina listening intently and with great interest to what kind of story the human young man had to tell.

It was the story of Apollo’s human son, who one day got an oath to wish whatever he wanted from his father. Apollo promised him anything, and his son – Phaeton – had asked to drive his chariot and pull the sun across the sky. Phaeton had refused to listen to his father’s warnings about the strong-willed horses pulling the chariot.

Slaine told it with great immersion, changing his tone of voice and emphasize words here and there to paint the story with his words rather than with a delicate paintbrush. This seemed to excite the cursed princess, who stared at him with wide eyes and a bright smile on her lips.

“He became reckless and wanted to show off, and drove the chariot closer to earth than Apollo had told him. It resulted in Gaia – our mother earth – being scorched. Her plants shriveled, the meadows burnt to white ash and the fountains and rivers dried,” he said and theatrically gestured with his hands to demonstrate the shriveling plants and drying rivers, before continuing:

“Terrified of what he had done, Phaeton desperately pulled the chariot up, so high that mother Gaia was covered with ice instead,” he continued and pointed at the horizon, raising his hand up toward the somewhat cloudy sky.

Lemrina followed where his finger pointed with interest, immersed in the story.

“He tried to correct his error by driving the chariot a little lower.” Slaine lowered his hand, and Lemrina looked to him. “But the ice melted and flooded the earth,” he then said and looked saddened. “Gaia cried so loudly to Zeus that her cry aroused the king of gods from his sleep. Zeus saw no other way to stop the turmoil on earth than by killing Apollo’s son.”

Slaine gripped an invisible spear and raised his gripping hand, and then pretended to throw the spear down into the sea while continuing:

“Zeus flung a thunderbolt beside the ear toward Phaeton and hurled the boy out of the chariot, killing the conceited boy on the spot. The horses returned to their stables and Apollo – consumed by grief from having lost his dear son – let the earth be enveloped by night for an entire day.”

Slaine put his arms around himself and hung his head in pretended grief, and Lemrina listened intently and watched him closely, silently asking him to finish the story:

“Phaeton’s mother desperately searched for his corpse across the far and wide world and found his bones buried in a foreign land,” the young man said. “She cradled the tombstone and wetted the carvings on it with her tears – the carvings that said…” Slaine made a dramatic pause and looked up toward the sky that was covered with patches of clouds, and cited from his memory: “Here Phaeton lies: In Apollo’s car he fared, and though he greatly failed, more greatly dared.”

The silence after his last words was long and deafening. Something in the story had struck the cursed princess, who lowered her gaze and looked at the sea beneath her. Slaine wondered if he had unintentionally caused the cursed girl discomfort, and was about to ask as he was interrupted:

“Such a touching tale,” Lemrina sighed at last. The cursed princess rested her hands on the edge of the deck and looked up toward the starry sky behind the patches of billowing clouds while dangling her legs slowly and melancholically. “Would you grieve for me if I disappeared from this world?” she then asked, and Slaine looked at her with a frown.

“That is a sad question to ask, Your Highness,” he said quietly.

“Would you?” she pushed gently and turned to look at him.

Slaine knew what answer she was looking for, and he thought quickly through the answer. It was quite obvious and he found it a relief he needed not to lie.

“Yes, of course I would,” he said quietly and with a sincere voice while looking into her eyes to convey how sincere he was.

“Despite I am greedy about you?” she whispered with a sorrowful frown slowly forming on her face.

She was ashamed of what she had done and would do to Slaine, and the human young man could understand the regret she felt. He could be like that as well – carelessly acting out his passionate emotions since he was too weak to control them when his exhausted heart overflowed. Who was he to complain about Lemrina’s inability to control her violent emotions if he was the same as her?

‘ _We just keep hurting each other, and yet we forgive without a second thought because we know why we torment each other_.’

“Despite you are greedy about me, my princess,” Slaine whispered back.

They exchanged a smile and looked at each other with mutual warmth for a second longer than usual, and the princess then suddenly stood up and threw her hands up toward the sky with a bright smile on her lips.

“Let us become tragic gods, Slaine,” she said happily and closed her hand as if catching a star. There was fire in her eyes. “Together, we shall be like the ancient gods, and we shall rule the world until someone destroys us.”

Slaine stood up to look at her, smiling to the truth she had spoken.

“Dare not to become conceited, Your Highness. The story of Phaeton has a morale to it: Never be proud and vain,” the young man said and watched Lemrina lower her hand to open it and look at the imaginary star she had caught. “It is getting chilly,” he then continued and walked up to her, putting his hands on her shoulders to give her support as she was slowly growing weak in her legs again. “We should head back inside before you start to freeze, my princess.”

Lemrina stared at him for a short moment, thinking things through, and then smiled kindly and nodded.

“Would you kindly escort me back to my room, Sir Troyard?” she asked quietly.


	21. The Beautiful and Damned

Once morning came, Inaho was called to the operations room with Rayet, Inko and other officers, to meet the captain and go through the mission the Deucalion had been dealt by UN’s admiral of the fleet. They were close to the Equator, right outside of the eastern part of Borneo, not too far away from the Turtle Island. Deucalion had been resupplying in the Philippines when the order had arrived to investigate the enemy’s presence on the other side of Borneo, and the heat in the area made the temperatures hot that even the shower water was heated by the scorching sun that warmed the water tanks; those who worked on deck had to be careful to not get nasty sunburns; it would hurt to shower in hot water with burnt skin.

The day before had been slow and forgiving; it was good to be back on board the ship, the brunet thought, but Inaho also thought of it as strange now that his senses were so sharp. He had been unable to sleep all night due to the loud noise of the ventilation, which was louder now than it had been on his first deployment on board. Calm – who Inaho shared a room with – had not noticed the ventilation at all and had slept like a log throughout the night. The crew’s movement on board was also something that disturbed the brunet’s sleep; the steps from steel cap boots were another thing that kept him awake, and so were the pulsating pipes. No one else seemed sleep deprived either during breakfast; it had only been Inaho who had yawned all morning at the table in the canteen.

‘ _It’s as if I have to learn how to listen and hear – get used to all new sounds I’m not used to hearing this way; as if they’re amplified_ ,’ he had figured.

The unnaturally loud sounds of a ship were so new to him he had trouble filtering between them, making his attention unfocused when he least expected it. It had been the same thing back in the facility where he had been kept, but since he had spent so much time there, he had learned how to filter all the sounds. Now, he had to do that all over again, since the ship sounded completely different than the facility; it was much noisier on Deucalion.

“Apparently, according to the civilian rebels in Northeast Malaysia, an enemy fleet has been seen close to the coastline, close to Bintulu. Since we are the closest and already in Borneo, we will sail to and hide outside of Sandakan to gather intelligence on them and the reason for their presence,” Captain Magbaredge said and showed a blurry photograph of a large aircraft carrier – taken with an old cell phone camera – on a large touch sensitive virtual board in front of them that made up the table. Next to it, she opened a map of Malaysia and Indonesia, where Bintulu was located close to the middle of the northeastern part of Malaysia, and Sandakan was as far northeast as possible. The glow from the screen gave the room a bluish hue. “I called you three here,” the captain continued and looked at Inaho, Inko and Rayet. “Because I think you are experienced for this kind of mission.”

“The enemy hasn’t attacked the northeastern part of Malaysia?” Inko – who stood next to Inaho – asked, and the captain shook her head.

“No. As far as we know, the enemy has been standing still for two days, not moving from the spot.”

“They could be performing maintenance,” Rayet suggested, and the captain nodded.

“It is a theory I thought of as well since they have not made any kind of hostile move – not even sent out aircrafts to control the rebel camps,” the captain said and tapped the knuckle to her index finger against her chin. “It is as if they are avoiding instigating a battle. We were ordered to investigate their unusual presence and – if able to – engage in a battle to clear the route for cargo ships.”

“What do you suggest we do, Captain?” Inaho asked and looked at Magbaredge, who seemed to be thinking. Her eyes were fixed on the blurry picture of the enemy’s aircraft carrier.

“To be honest, I doubt my own ability to take action right now since we are so low on resources,” she suddenly said honestly and shook her head.

It was rare for an officer to admit something as worrying as that, but Inaho thought that perhaps the captain felt safe enough to do that in front of the team that had ventured into an enemy ship nineteen months ago, and barely come back alive. Everyone from that old team – except Yuki, who had been deployed on another ship that was sailing close to Africa at the moment – had been called to the bridge since they had the most experience of all of the soldiers on board.

“Because they have cut off all of our transport routes in the sky and at sea,” Magbaredge continued. “We have limited weapons and medical supplies while they have fully functioning factories and have no need for medicine or healthcare. We have to do the spying as quietly and under the radar as possible, and that is where you three come in. If we send out aircrafts to spy on them, they will notice us immediately and might take it as a threat and attack, which means we have to send you out in a small boat.”

Inaho nodded. He could only agree with her since there was no room or reason to pretend they were not in a pinch. As far as he had learned, all of the UN branches were in a similar situation; the Navy, Air Force and Armed Forces. No one had enough supplies to continue fighting, and sending out a squad was a wise move.

“I don’t agree with the admiral of the fleet that we should be responsible for clearing the ship routes in this area, since I believe a battle would be devastating,” the half human boy said. “If we were to engage in a battle, we might lose our entire ship and crew,” Inaho then filled in to put the truth into words and let it hang over those occupying the room, which made one of the officers nervous. He was probably afraid for that to happen.

It was important to put out all of the pawns on the board to make them visible, even if everyone in the room knew about them in silence. There were always those who tried to ignore the uncomfortable truth, and saying this uncomfortable truth out loud was a way to force them to face it.

“It is not difficult to imagine that it would be the only possible outcome.” The captain looked troubled and thought again.

Inaho looked at the blurry photograph on the board in front of him and then reached out his hand to poke the touch screen and open up a chart of the South China Sea. He marked the area where the fleet was located by drawing a circle on the virtual chart.

“They probably have all their sensors up on high alert,” the brunet said. “Sending out any kind of vehicle through air or sea will alarm them.” He pulled his finger from Sandakan down to Bintulu Malaysia, dragging a line between the two points. “Perhaps we should go with ground vehicles to the civilian camp that reported their presence, and study the enemy from the coastline?”

The captain looked at the line he had drawn and nodded while thinking.

“It is our only choice, it seems,” she mumbled. “However, we have to get close enough to the shoreline in order to put ground vehicles on the shore. If we get too close, they might notice us.”

“Or send us out with small MOB boat and ask the rebels to transport us to the location,” Inaho suggested. “Stay far out at sea to make our ship into an uninteresting target. If we stay behind Sandakan, the Versian radars might not pick up on the signal of a small MOB boat. I’m sure the rebels are willing to help if being asked to, since we all have a common enemy.”

Captain Magbaredge scoffed amused.

“I did not think of that,” she admitted with subtle amusement. “It would be the best option we have. I will look into how to contact the rebels.”

“Your superior should know,” the boy said, and the captain nodded. “I request to be the sole member of the squad.”

“Inaho!” Inko quickly exclaimed and turned to look at him with a concerned expression. “We went on board Tharsis together. You can’t just leave me behind this time!”

“You barely came back alive,” Inaho said and turned to look at her.

He gave her a saddened smile; he knew how important it was for her to come with him, and he knew how crucial it was for him to convey his feelings to her about her coming along. Nineteen months ago, he had simply let her come along without her understanding how Inaho felt about it – that she had been wasting her life on a boy who did not love her the way she loved him – and, this time, he wanted her to know he would be sad to accept her bravery the way he had done back then. Inko seemed to notice this; her eyes widened for a moment while looking at his wry expression, before she cried out with desperation:

“And you nearly died!”

“I did,” the brunet admitted. “However, the tables have turned. I’m not as weak as I was before.”

“Is power all you think of?” Inko asked with a trembling voice. “You complained about being too weak the day before the attack in South Korea, and now your wish has come true. Does that mean I’m of no use anymore?”

“That’s not it,” Inaho answered and lowered his eyes to look at the blurry enemy ship behind the chart of South China Sea.

Would Inko understand that she would be in his way if she tagged along? He was much faster, stronger and alert now than he had been back then; nineteen months ago, he had needed all the support he got. Now, however, he was as strong as six strong humans; he had tested his strength back in the facility with a tug of war and had managed to have six grown men lose to him. He was as quick as the attack of a rattlesnake, and his awareness was as alert as a hunting feline’s.

Magbaredge raised her eyebrows and looked at him with slight surprise after hearing the youngsters argue, and stared at Inaho.

“I was expecting you to be eager and want to get out onto the battleground once we are pulled into one, and I should have expected you to want to engage in this mission alone,” she said somewhat sarcastically.

“To go solo is why I’m here,” Inaho said and watched her without taking her words personally. “Since I’m as strong as a fourth generation vampire, I should be used as a lone soldier; I will only be held back by others since they can’t fight the way I do.”

Inaho noticed Inko lowered her head in shame; his words struck her hard and she seemed to understand why he had asked her not to come along on this mission.

“I thought you were sent out here to train the soldiers to fight vampires,” Magbaredge countered.

“Yes, that is one of my roles on board this ship. However, my main reason to be here is to be on the offensive side of the war since my superhuman abilities are a benefit when battling strong opponents,” the boy continued to explain.

“But that curse is deteriorating you, is it not?” his superior asked, and the brunet broke eye contact immediately.

“It is sensitive information,” he said bluntly, careful to not reveal anything that would worry Inko and Rayet; he wished not to be bothered with them fussing over him even if he appreciated them caring so much for him.

It was easier to go through what was happening to him without constantly having to explain and reassure others; he preferred to suffer alone and deal with his body slowly breaking each time he pushed it beyond normal human limits. It would take a long time before any symptoms were to show on him, but he wanted to go through all that in peace. Before that would happen and the truth would come out, he hoped the war to have come to an end so that he could stop pushing his body.

‘ _Then I can deal with you all wanting to take care of me and worry about me_ ,’ he thought and silently apologized in advance for what he would put his friends through in the near future.

“It is,” the captain answered and looked concerned that information was being kept from her. “Not even I got any information of it.”

“There is a reason for that,” the brunet said and felt he should leave the operations room; Inko was staring at him with a heavy frown on her face.

“Certainly,” Magbaredge said silently and peered at him curiously. “Do you have what you need?” she then asked, and Inaho nodded and was about to answer when the executive officer standing next to the captain seemed to get a call, and leaned in to whisper something into the captain’s ear. Inaho heard the whisper.

“ _The enemy is broadcasting a speech by their current princess_ ,” he heard the officer say. Kaoru Mizusaki was the officer’s name, if Inaho remembered correctly.

The captain noticed Inaho watch them and understood the half human boy must have heard Officer Mizusaki’s whisper. She sighed and ordered her subordinate to activate the speaker system so everyone could hear the broadcast:

“ _… -ince I was little, I thought of the curse as a nightmare that hid in all children’s closets and beneath their beds, behind their bedroom doors and watched them from the dark corridor outside their rooms at night_ ,” a beautiful voice said. It was strong and focused on a mission. “ _I was one of these children who feared the curse. Then, when I was cursed – when I died for the first time and was born into the world of night – my eyes had been opened: I realized the true nightmare was not the curse, but the humans. Suddenly, those who had told me they would protect me were out to kill me instead._ ”

“What?!” Inko exclaimed angrily, but Rayet quickly hushed her and the dark-haired girl went quiet.

“ _I am fairly certain most of us cursed have these kinds of experiences. For how many years have we been fighting for our right to survive?_ ” the enemy princess’s voice continued. “ _The humans hunted us, shot at us and tried to murder our families simply because they were too afraid to have a conversation with my late and dearly missed grandfather Rayregalia and father Gilzeria – who with their bare hands and strong wills managed to overtake Soviet Union – Russia – and turn it into our home and motherland, a place where we were allowed to feel safe._ ”

Inaho had to admit what the Versian princess said was true. It had been the humans who had set the foundation for the Nightfall war back when the curse first appeared, because they had been afraid of dying. All of this madness had begun when a couple of human politicians had decided that the cursed were bad and dangerous, and should be eradicated quickly to save as many humans as possible. No one in the operations room could deny that either, whether they liked it or not.

“ _Things have not changed since Nightfall ended. We are still considered the enemy of the world, and we are still hunted. Just see what they did to my dear sister, the first princess of Vers, Asseylum Vers Allusia. They – the imprudent humans who so foolishly squandered the good will of Vers Empire – used her and murdered her._ ”

“She’s lying!” Inko yelled and seemed to grow angrier for each word the Versian princess said. “We did no such thing!”

“Quiet,” Rayet hissed and Inko lowered her eyes and frowned heavily while her fists shook at her sides.

“ _The humans want to take our right to live away from us because they refuse to see us as living creatures. We may not have a beating heart, and we may not have warmth to share with the ones we love, but we do have a consciousness and awareness that we stand here and now, on this earth, moving through time with a wish for a better future. I believe it is time for us to end this all and take the control of our own lives. No creature of the sun will be allowed to trample us and starve us. Take them. Claim those who have the pleasure of watching the sun god Apollo pull the sun through the sky from morning to night._ ”

Inaho suddenly felt his heart beat so loudly in his chest from the princess’s last sentence that he barely heard what she said next; his pulse was beating joyfully in his ears and filled his head with the sound of his blood pumping through his body. He felt so excited that his entire body became jittery.

‘ _That’s not entirely correct_ ,’ he thought thrilled. ‘ _The true sun god was Helios._ ’ He squeezed his hands into fists to control himself as he remembered back to the time when he and Seylum had been in the sickbay, speaking about Slaine and the ancient Greek stories the blond had seemed to enjoy – according to Seylum. ‘ _Slaine! You’re still alive, and you’re with that princess! I found you!_ ’

“ _I, Lemrina Vers Envers, Second Princess Royal of the Vers Empire, praise and commend all those cursed who have fought and fallen for our right to still wander on this earth. The rest of us-_ “ the cursed princess made a dramatic pause before she continued: “ _We need to fulfill their wish – our wish to get a livable life. The humans have taken our rights away, and, thus, we shall do the same for them. Push this war until it tilts in our favor, my brave soldiers. Let us make this world our-!_ ”

With that, the speech was interrupted and was replaced with static, until it completely disappeared into the sea of white noise. A radio shadow must have fallen over Deucalion to make the broadcast die out like that. It left Inaho feeling an incredible fire spread its flames through the veins, and he took a step closer to the captain, and said:

“Send me out there to collect intelligence. Since I have abilities granted by the curse, I should be the ideal person to be sent on the mission, and I should go alone.”

Inaho felt the familiar weight made itself reminded around his neck as the Troyard talisman he wore dangled beneath his uniform shirt. He had not let go of it ever since it had been returned to him; he had to return it to its true owner.

‘ _I’m coming for you, Slaine._ ’

†††

The dimmed room was filled with a quiet lullaby that was being hummed. It sounded soft and gentle, warm and soothing – just like a lullaby should. He only sang for the sleeping princess, never for anyone else since he had no song to sing and no voice to hum with when looking at others. Only Asseylum was granted his lullaby, even if he had no idea if she heard it or not.

Slaine unfolded the white linen by throwing the end of it up in the air, and let it land with a flutter on the bed where his beloved would normally be lying. Asseylum’s corpse was sleeping on a foldable bunk while Slaine prepared the soft and luxurious bed after removing the used linen. Normally, Eddelrittuo would be helping him, but the handmaiden was occupied with taking care of Asseylum’s sister, who was holding a speech in the early morning. Slaine had no interest in listening to the speech since he knew it was nothing but propaganda – propaganda to hurt those Asseylum wanted to save.

‘ _I’m sorry_ ,’ Slaine thought as he tucked the edges of the linen beneath the mattress. ‘ _I guess you would be angry – furious even – if you knew what was going on out in the world._ ’ He took a deep breath and continued to dress the pillow. ‘ _And you would probably never forgive me for being a part of all this, even if it is to save you_.’

When he was nearly finished with the bed, he heard the voice he wished not to hear outside the door:

“ _Are you in there, Sir Troyard?_ ” Lemrina’s voice said.

Slaine looked up toward the door and stopped humming. He stared at the cold gate for a while and then sighed and asked:

“Yes. What brings you here, my princess? You know this room is-”

“ _I know I am not allowed in there_ ,” Lemrina answered through the door. “ _But can you at least open the door so that I can look at you when we speak?_ ”

“Forgive me, Your Highness, but I cannot do that,” Slaine answered and let go of the linen and pillow to walk over to the door. He put his hands on it and leaned his forehead against, listening if there were more people than her on the other side of it, but, since he was a human, he heard nothing. “We will have to talk through the door if it is something urgent.”

The other side went quiet for a while. It was not difficult to imagine how the image of the cursed princess looked like from Slaine rejecting her like that; she probably frowned with frustration and hurt, and stared at the door, thinking of something so she could revenge her sad feelings.

‘ _Don’t be difficult_ …’ the young man worried.

“ _I have no wish to hurt her, if that is what you worry about_ ,” Lemrina’s voice said quietly, as if she was feeling melancholy. “ _You are so paranoid about her…_ ”

“And I am for a good reason,” Slaine answered and felt a twinge in his heart from the distress of having Lemrina outside the room, trying to talk her way inside. He raised a hand to his chest and squeezed the uniform while trying to breathe calmly. His pulse was beating away, hammering in his ears. “I cannot trust anyone – not even Harklight – to enter this room.”

His own servant could be a threat as well, he had thought. Since Harklight had been Saazbaum’s blood sacrifice before he had been assigned to Slaine, there could be a possibility that the human man was ordered to update his master with information about the slumbering cursed princess.

It was difficult being distrustful of people, but the blond young man would not take any risks.

The silence on the other side struck again and Slaine waited with tension for what the cursed princess would say while trying to calm his racing heart. He leaned with his back against the door and felt the cold from the iron crawl through his uniform and cooled his back. If only it could cool his mind as well.

“ _I came to tell you the speech went well_ ,” Lemrina finally said. “ _Count Saazbaum was satisfied and even proud_.”

“That warms my heart to hear, my princess – although I am not surprised he is proud of you; you are a good speaker,” he said and tried to make his voice sound friendly and warm. He had a feeling he failed at it, and his worry was confirmed by the silence that was slightly longer than was considered normal.

“ _Thank you, Sir Troyard. He has coached me well_ ,” the cursed princess finally said quietly enough he barely heard her through the door. “ _Will I see you later?_ ”

Her voice sounded begging, as if she was starving for his company. The young man closed his eyes and took a deep and silent breath after turning his head up. When he exhaled, he opened his eyes to look at the ceiling.

Her need was bugging him. It suffocated him. When he least expected it, he was knocked off balance by the cursed princess, making his emotions run wild and dark. She did not feed on his blood only; she fed on his entire being – just like he himself had done on Asseylum when he had been a boy. His entire happiness had been resting on Asseylum’s shoulders since she had been – and still was – his only source of happiness, and he had been extremely greedy about her.

‘ _And I’m still feeding on her and being greedy – even when she’s helpless like this_ ,’ he thought and knitted his eyebrows until heavy creases formed on his forehead; Lemrina was doing the same to him, and he realized it was painful and a heavy duty to carry. ‘ _I’m sorry, Lemrina…_ ’

“Y-yes,” he said and tried to hold back a violent emotion of frustration that made his heart squeeze tightly. He had to please her and keep her happy or else he feared Saazbaum would punish him by taking Asseylum away from him. “I will finish in here and then I shall keep you company for as long as you wish, Your Highness,” he promised.

He reacted like this more often for each month that passed, as if his patience and resolve wavered more and more. Conflicts had been avoided this far by him feeding pieces of himself to both Lemrina and Saazbaum; done nothing but to keep them happy on his behalf. As it was now, he feared conflicts would begin to arise and Asseylum would be the one to pay the price. He had to find back to that resolve he had had more than a year ago, and he had to discard his emotions entirely and simply grit his teeth.

‘ _But I’m too passionate…! I’ve tried to throw my emotions away, but I can’t_ ,’ he thought and took another deep breath to relieve some of the tension that was building up in his chest. He lowered his eyes to look at Asseylum, and his eyelashes became wet with subtle tears. ‘ _I can’t escape this… I can’t grit my teeth forever and just bear with these life conditions._ ’

Yet, he could not blame Lemrina for all this even if she was a source for his unstable state. He had promised himself for her; thought that he could live like this if he only got to keep Asseylum alive and at his side. Lemrina knew what she was doing, but she could not help it because of the resentment she felt toward Slaine for only caring about her sister. It was his duty to accept it because he knew he hurt her gravely.

One moment he was pampering her, spoiling her even with kindness and care – and the next moment he treated her coldly by rejecting her with kind but strict words when she became too intense with him. He abused her like this so that his beloved would not pay the price of him disobeying – and Lemrina knew this was all a play the blond put up to please his master. If his love for Asseylum would disappear, it would be easier to accept Lemrina’s intense need for him, but as things were now, he felt as if he was cheating on Asseylum with her sister; cruelly using Lemrina as a substitute.

‘ _I know it must hurt_ ,’ he thought and closed his eyes, trying to calm down. ‘ _And I’m sorry. You have all the right to be bitter and angry; you should take it out on me_.’

What he did against her was unforgiving.

“ _When can I be expecting you?_ ” the cursed princess asked from the other side of the door, and Slaine sighed.

“Give me two hours,” he said and hung his head while his heart grew numb and his emotions faded away. He slowly began to feel as if he was floating in limbo, as if nothing mattered anymore. It was not true; a lot still mattered for him, but, right now, he felt as if he was staring at the world through a window; he was watching everyone else live their lives while he was stuck in a room of depression, not being a part of the world he saw. No one understood what he felt. No one knew what he thought. “After two hours, I will give you all of my time,” he then promised her.

“ _All of your time?_ ” Lemrina asked.

“All of it…” Slaine answered and took a deep breath.

There was a pause again, and Slaine wondered what she thought he had said and meant.

“ _I will see you later then, Sir Troyard_ ,” a somber voice said and Slaine gritted his teeth; he knew he had said something she would hold against him the moment he stepped out of his cabin.

‘ _Stupid!_ ’ he cursed toward himself and glided down onto the floor with his back against the door.

He felt as if he needed to feel frustrated – to give himself a break – but his emotions were numbed. He searched for them, tried to get a hold of them, but no matter what he did, there were no emotions to find. As he was now, he was dissociative about them – knowing what he felt but could not understand them because they were too huge. Instead, his mind had decided to put them in a box and store them away for the moment, telling him they were not real and needed no attention.

‘ _Whatever…_ ’ he then thought and sat there for a while, staring at the corpse of his beloved lying on the foldable bunk before continuing with making the bed and tuck Asseylum in among the newly washed linen.

When two hours had passed, Slaine left his cabin and walked down the corridor in search for his future fiancé to keep his promise. He thought she would be in the room where she painted, but did not find her there. Not even the tools had been touched today it seemed. Instead, he searched for her in Saazbaum’s office, but neither of them could be found there either.

He met cursed creatures in the corridors who watched him, knowing he was a blood sacrifice, but Slaine did not cower the way he had done nineteen months ago. Back then, he had caressed the walls with his shoulders and avoided the cursed creatures as much as possible, keeping his head down and had been afraid of eye contact with a possible hunter. Now, he walked with a straight back, claimed the passageway and made cursed creatures of lower rank than him give way for him. He kept his head up high, like a proud officer, and did not fear looking those cursed he met in the eyes.

Saazbaum had trained him well.

It turned out the one he was looking for was sitting in the wardroom – the mess-cabin for naval officers on board the ship – and were speaking quietly with their guardian, both with smiles on their faces. The atmosphere was calm and relaxed – they must have been speaking about something enjoyable – which the blond young man found relieving.

Before he had stepped into the wardroom, the two vampires turned to look at him, welcomed him with their gazes. They must have heard him come from afar, expecting him to show up since neither of them seemed surprised to see him.

“Are you finished singing a lullaby for the sleeping beauty?” Lemrina asked and the air instantly became tense.

Slaine stopped in the middle of the room. Something told him to head back to his cabin and lock the door.

“Forgive me if I intrude,” Slaine said warily. “Shall I come back later?”

“Oh no, Slaine,” Count Saazbaum said with his usual tone of a proud guardian. He had not reacted to the shift in the atmosphere, probably because he did not think of it as something that concerned him. Slaine had a hunch Saazbaum knew what was going on between the tragic and made up couple, but the cursed count seemed please as long as Lemrina and Slaine tried to make things work – for whatever reason, be it for the sake of a third party or for the sake of silly love. “Please, come in,” the proud cursed man then prompted, and Slaine obeyed.

“Excuse me,” Slaine said respectfully and bowed to them before stepping closer.

There were two glasses standing on the table, both containing an opaque red liquid. Slaine had grown used to the sight ever since he had stepped on board Tharsis to begin his first and never ending deployment, but the thought of cursed creatures drinking blood from cups and glasses, treating it like coffee, was somehow unnerving and warped, as if they pretended they were still human in some kind of uncanny way.

“Lemrina and I have been talking,” Saazbaum continued with a satisfied smile when Slaine sat down on a chair next to the cursed girl, with his master opposite of him and Lemrina.

“I thought so, my lord,” Slaine answered and felt uneasy. “May I be so bold to ask what your topic of discussion was?”

Saazbaum looked like he was bursting with joy, and Lemrina waited patiently while playing with the glass in her hand, slowly stirring its content by rotating her wrist. The blood moved smoothly in the glass and looked like liquid silk brushing up against the glass walls of its container.

“About you two,” Saazbaum answered bluntly, and Slaine’s breaths slowed down from uneasiness while his heart began pounding in his chest. “Since you two finally get along so well, I think it is time for you to begin building your future relationship on a more intimate level,” the cursed man continued.

Slaine felt as if something smashed him with a sledgehammer, knocked the box with stored away emotions from its shelf and jumbled its content into a chaotic mess; his emotions had awoken again.

His posture slumped subtly as he stared at his master and guardian, slowly building a hunch of what was going on and what had been said in the wardroom before he had entered it. He was sure he would not like it.

“What do you mean, my lord?” he asked carefully, not being able to uphold his manners to the usual degree.

Saazbaum smiled joyfully, and said the words that struck through Slaine’s heart like a sword:

“You shall move in with Princess Lemrina since your room is off limits. Harklight is preparing her room for you as we speak, while Eddelrittuo is soon to pack your things and move them into your mutual room.”

“W-what?” Slaine gasped and stared at his master and then at his future fiancé. Lemrina smiled like a pleased feline who had caught a small bird. Slaine wished Eddelrittuo would have been present so he could confirm what his lord had said, but, since she was not there, he immediately lost his composure and turned to look at Saazbaum again, blurting: “B-but I cannot leave princ-!” and then went silent as if his sentence had been cut by the harsh glare Saazbaum gave him.

The young man understood his lord’s warning, and he knew he had no choice but to accept the new rules. If he refused the slightest to what had been decided in the wardroom before he had entered it, Asseylum would be killed.

He stared at the cursed count – who glared back at him without a blink – until Slaine finally surrendered and nodded, giving into Saazbaum’s command to behave while a cold hand caressed his cheek, and a disgusting shiver ran down his spine.

“You promised,” Lemrina said quietly with a blaming tone to her voice. “You promised me all of your time.”

‘ _So, that is how you decided to interpret what I said two hours ago_ ,’ he thought defeated and looked up at her peering at him. She had asked Saazbaum to come to the decision of having them move in together. ‘ _Have you finally gotten enough and will forcefully separate me and your sister? Is your frustration that severe?_ ’

A subtly sorrowful flicker hinted in her eyes as she looked back at him, as if she begged for him to forgive her. She was a victim for her own passion, just as Slaine was for his obsession for his beloved. No matter what they did, they would forever be like water and oil; constantly repelling each other; never finding a leveled state of harmony. And yet, they were forced to try since neither of them had a choice. The puppeteer was sitting in front of them, pulling their strings and made them come together to tell a tragic tale.

‘ _We are crumbling again…_ ’ he thought and watched her lean closer with her hand resting on his left cheek. ‘… _alone and together at the same time…_ ’

Cold lips covered his, and Slaine closed his eyes with acceptance; he would allow her to kiss him even if it felt forbidden. It was a careful kiss – a kiss he truthfully wanted to reject. Lemrina was wary of the human young man’s reaction and did not claim him in that single kiss by adding passion to it. She would wait until later – when Slaine had reorganized the chaotic mess of emotions back into their box and stored it away once again. She would pull it out a third time, shake it violently and leave Slaine to puzzle its content back together, and she would do that over and over again. Through that same kiss, Lemrina asked for him to show her mercy for what she had done to him this time, and Slaine knew the kind part of her was being sincere.

As she leaned back against the backrest of her chair, she looked at Slaine who opened his eyes while keeping them turned down, staring at the table in front of him. This was painful, Slaine thought; surrendering himself to whatever someone else decided for him. He was not allowed to do anything by himself; Saazbaum and Lemrina owned him – controlled him.

‘ _By the leash which is Asseylum…_ ’ he thought and frowned as his heart ached.

“He looks quite unhappy, do you not think so, Count Saazbaum?” Lemrina’s voice asked with a bittersweet voice, and Slaine quickly gripped the role he had been dealt; the cursed girl had warned him with her question to the cursed count, letting Slaine know he had shown too much humanity.

“That is not true, my princess,” Slaine said after he had straightened his back and looked up at his master with a smile to reassure him: “I feel quite happy actually.”

‘ _Stay calm_ ,’ he thought while he continued lying with a gentle smile on his lips:

“I think this is a splendid idea.”

‘ _Don’t fall apart yet…_ _Hold yourself together!’_

“It pleases me greatly,” Saazbaum said smiling, still with a warning look in his eyes when he looked at Slaine. “Since you are to be married in the future, I think you should start to get to know each other the way a couple would.”

“It is quite early for that. We are not to be married until I have been cursed and climbed in power in your name,” Slaine said and felt somewhat confused of what Saazbaum meant. “Or have you decided that I am getting ready to be cursed, my lord?”

The proud vampire looked at him with an agreeing smile and nodded, and Slaine’s pulse began quickening.

“Every day you are more and more in the flower of your youth, Slaine,” the cursed count said with admiration in his voice. “Your time should stop soon; you are becoming as perfect as you will ever be; you are young but strong, attractive and capable.”

Slaine stared at his master with panic growing in his guts, coiling up toward his throat in an attempt to suffocate him from his time growing near.

“W-when is the moment my time should stop?” he asked and noticed his heart was beating so violently in his chest his voice shook along with its beats.

“I like to have a little time to think things through before I decide when to curse you,” Saazbaum said. Those were chilling words. All Slaine could hear was the cursed count saying he had not decided on when to murder him yet. “In the mean time, you two should settle in together and start building your foundation as a couple. You will be spending an eternity together.”

With those words, Slaine felt a thin thread snap in his mind. He had to hide from the cursed man’s and girl’s sight, and he had to hide quickly.

“Sir,” he said and squeezed his hands into fists in order to be able to smile. “May I begin preparing already? I find it tedious to wait for Her Highness’s handmaiden to finish packing my things. I might as well start immediately.”

Saazbaum chuckled.

“Eager are we, Slaine?” he asked and looked satisfied with Slaine’s answer. The young man was unsure if his lord knew that he was lying, but decided not to investigate the matter. All he hoped for was for Saazbaum to allow him back into his room.

“Is it wrong of me to look forward to it, Count Saazbaum?” the blond vassal asked and felt the tremble in his body grow for each second that passed.

“Not at all,” his master said amused. “I rather find it surprising. I thought you would put up a fight.”

Slaine frowned.

“Have I ever put up a fight during these nineteen months, my lord?” he asked and felt cold sweat begin to dampen his uniform.

“No, you have been a perfect example of a lord,” the cursed count continued.

“Perhaps Count Saazbaum was thinking you would refuse to leave the sleeping princess,” Lemrina suggested and gave Slaine a meaningful grin.

“I have to admit that was my concern since you have asked for my forgiveness for whatever future wrongs you will commit, and I was wondering if this was one of those times,” the cursed man said with an apologetic smile on his lips. Now that Slaine thought about it, he could remember he had promised Saazbaum that back on Tharsis, when he had given his rights away to the man. “Since you are agreeable,” the cursed count continued. “You may go and help the handmaiden prepare your belongings.”

Slaine stood up from his chair on trembling legs and bowed to his lord with gratitude, and then looked at Lemrina who smiled back at him like a heartbroken snake; she looked pleased and apologetic at the same time, and Slaine knew why: If she hurt, then he should hurt too.

Her wish had come true.

“I will see you in a couple of hours, Your Highness,” Slaine said with a forced smile and put his hand on her shoulder, and leaned in to give her cheek a kiss – trying to make it as gentle as possible.

‘ _I will forgive you soon enough_ ,’ he thought as he stood back up and looked at Lemrina, who peered back toward him with a nervous look – as if she had sensed his anger. ‘ _But right now, I have to be allowed to be angry at you_.’

He gave her one of those faked warm smiles he had mastered quickly in order to fool Saazbaum and keep the cursed man pleased with the blood sacrifice, but Lemrina knew he was angry at her.

The moment he left the room and had walked down the passageway for a little while, he hastened his steps that refused to stop hurrying. In the end, he dashed down the corridor with profound grief, desperately trying to get to his safe haven and lock the door behind him.

This was probably the last time he was allowed to sleep in his own cabin and watch over the sleeping cursed princess, and this was probably the last time he was allowed to relax and simply be himself. In a couple of hours, he would move into a cage and live with another caged bird, and they would torment each other until they would rip each others’ feathers out, destroying their wings with desperate frustration and then ask each other for forgiveness – over and over again.

‘ _For all eternity…_ ’

As he unlocked the door into his cabin and stepped in, he saw Eddelrittuo put down a couple of books into a cardboard box. It confirmed the truth; he was going to be moved into Lemrina’s room.

Eddelrittuo looked up at him with a worried look which let Slaine know she was devastated for what was happening to him. Her emphatic expression felt grave, as if the young man’s situation became more real than it had been a second before, and he hung his head as he leaned his back toward the door, hiding his face from her behind his bangs. A thick lump of sorrow in his throat was suffocating him, and he tried to swallow it down.

“Could you … leave the rest for me?” the blond young man asked with a quivering voice.

“Sir Troyard…” Eddelrittuo said and took a step closer.

The blond immediately put his arms around himself and pushed himself against the door, silently asking the little girl not to come closer. He wanted to suffer alone right now. Cold hands were not a comfort; he needed human warmth, but there was no one to give him that. Harklight – who had grown up in a colony of blood sacrifices – was used to the cold hands and was too professional to give Slaine a warm pat on his back or a warm caress down his cheek. When Slaine had been sixteen years old nineteen months ago, and been hurt by Cruhteo, Harklight had given him kind caresses to soothe him. Now, however, he kept his distance ever since he had officially become Slaine’s servant.

‘ _I’m always alone…!_ ’ the young man thought frustrated and felt his eyelashes become wet with tears. He was about to cry; he had managed to swallow down the thick lump of grief in his throat, but it had spread out in his chest instead. ‘ _I’m nothing but alone on a ship filled with monsters!_ ’

“I am so sorry for what you are put through,” the cursed handmaiden said and walked closer.

“Please, Eddelrittuo,” Slaine whispered. “I have to be alone right now.”

“I think this is the time you should not be alone at all, Sir Troyard,” Eddelrittuo advised.

Slaine squeezed his arms around himself as he felt like breaking out into a desperate cry.

“Lemrina will forever own me,” he trembled and slowly glided down on the floor and curled up. “I don’t know what to do right now. I knew this day would come, but I didn’t expect it to come this soon; I’m not ready to give myself up entirely. I won’t even have my private room anymore where I can suffer in peace, and I can’t watch over Asseylum anymore.”

“Slaine…”

“This is so hard…” the blond man whispered and gritted his teeth to force his tears back.

“Slaine…” he heard Eddelrittuo say gently and saw her small feet in front of him as he looked up. She reached her arms up to Slaine’s shoulders and put them around him, holding him. “I think you should allow yourself to cry, my lord. You are being cruelly treated,” she said and squeezed him into her little embrace. “I know you try to be strong, but you are not made of iron.”

It felt so wrong to be held by her. She was as big as a child and Slaine’s mind told him he should not find comfort from a child. A minor was never to be put in such a situation where they had to hold a crumbling adult from falling apart. No child was ever to be put through something as cruel as that.

He knew she was older than him, but his mind could not see her as a grown woman. He refused to accept her comfort, and pushed the little girl away. Instead, he tried to collect himself and calm down to stay strong, even if he wished to just crumble and fade away like a ghost. Eddelrittuo put her arms around him again with stubbornness.

Now that she held him, he felt as if she was confirming his pain through the embrace and made his situation more real with her cold body, which made things even worse. Pain and vampires… Those were his only reality, and he felt frightened the moment a whimper escaped him; he was about to break and he had to quickly pull himself together and be strong, or else he would never get up again.

“Stop!” he gasped and shook his head as he pushed her away. His anxiety made his heart hurt and breathlessness came over him. “I can … do this…” he then panted and tried to calm down.

“Slaine…” Eddelrittuo said with sorrow overflowing from her voice. “You cannot keep doing this. You will die if you keep this up. Your heart condition will-“

“No!” the blond young man exclaimed. “I have to do this or else she’ll die!”

There was a painful pause before the handmaiden continued:

“You should not love her this deeply,” she whispered and tried to look Slaine in the eyes, but the blood sacrifice lowered his head further to hide his contorted face from her. “It is shredding you apart.”

“I can’t just stop loving her…” he gasped and tired to contain his grief. “I can’t… I just- I simply have to … find a way to live with this new set of rules.”

“It will destroy you,” Eddelrittuo whispered. “It is already breaking you. You cannot continue like this. You have to let the princess go and escape from here.”

Slaine shook his head violently.

“My love for her does not come from this world, Eddelrittuo. It is far greater than that. She saved my life when I was a child; I cannot let her die.”

The handmaiden reached out her hands to his shoulders, desperately trying to shake some sense into him.

“I know, my lord. Your love for her is born from insanity,” she said and carefully reached out a hand to brush his wet bangs away from his face to be able to look at him. “This guilt and madness is eating away at you like some kind of disease.”

Slaine, pitifully but bravely, raised his eyes to look at her, and felt a tear roll down his cheek as he shook his head slowly:

“I cannot kill her…”

Eddelrittuo frowned – partly from pity and partly from frustration that the blond young man was pushing himself so desperately. During the nineteen months she had helped Slaine to take care of the sleeping cursed princess, she had slowly begun to speak about Asseylum as if she was a lost cause. She had tried to make Slaine understand that the cursed princess and his secretly beloved would probably never wake up like this, but the young man had not listened to her. He was far greedier than that, that even death itself was not a salvation.

“No one knows if she thinks or feels anything in the state she is in,” Eddelrittuo said carefully. She knew Slaine could become angry from her putting out the uncomfortable truth in such a brutal manner, but she still did it bravely. “If she does, she is forced to be locked up in her own body due to the rules of the game. And if she was to wake up, what kind of world would she wake up to? I wish her peace, Slaine,” she said and looked him in the eyes. The human young man lowered his eyes. “But I know that you want to follow her the moment she leaves this world, and I think your time on this earth is not over yet – nor should it be eternal. You should run away from here before you are cursed.”

“You know as much as I do that there is nothing out there for me,” the blond said and took a deep breath to collect himself. “Asseylum is all I have; without her, there is nothing.”

“Slaine…”

The young man closed his eyes to sigh again and calm down, and ever so slowly let his breath escape him to find strength. He always did this; rearranged his emotions in the boxes in his mind to store them away since it was his only way to cope. As his heart stopped hurting, he opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling, saying:

“I realize I already stand in the rain.” Tiredly, he pushed himself up from his huddled position without straightening his back just yet, and he looked at Asseylum’s sleeping form in the soft and warm bed. “I might as well get wet too…” he sighed and walked over to the closet to take out his clothes and begin folding them.

“I think you already are,” the handmaiden said sorrowfully and seemed to have given up on persuading the human young man from destroying himself; she understood Slaine was obstinate about keeping Asseylum alive, and once he had made a decision, nothing could stop him. “Let me help you, Sir Troyard,” she then said and walked up to the clothes Slaine put on a chair, and began packing them.

In the evening, once everything had been taken out of their boxes and bags and been put in their new place, Slaine and Lemrina were left alone in their now shared room. None of them dared to look at each other, and neither of them said a word. The silence was deafening and a blessing, since both felt it to be awkward to be alone like this, in a cabin that was supposed to function as their intimate hideout.

They both undressed and changed into night clothes with their backs against each other, none of them even trying to peek over their shoulder, and they slipped beneath the duvet on either side of the bed without exchanging a glance, still facing away from the other.

Slaine took a deep breath and let his cheek rest against the pillow and curled up beneath the duvet. The bed was pleasantly warm from Lemrina’s heating blanket, which kept her warm throughout the night, but Slaine knew he would not be able to sleep; this was too different and new, uncomfortable and stressful that it was impossible to fall asleep. A clock ticked somewhere in the room – Slaine could not localize it in his memory since he had not gotten to know the room entirely just yet – and the scent in the entire room was that of a woman; Lemrina’s scent. It was a pleasant scent, but the blond missed the flowery scent of his beloved enough to make him want to hate the scent he felt now.

‘ _This isn’t my bed…_ ’ he thought and frowned and pulled the duvet up slightly more. ‘ _And this isn’t my pillow or duvet, nor is this my room. Nothing of this is mine…_ ’ It felt so foreign to him, as if he was trespassing unwillingly. ‘ _Is this homesickness?_ ’ he then wondered and smiled a sorrowful smile out of destructive amusement. ‘ _I don’t even have a home, so I didn’t think I could feel this way._ ’

Time passed. The clock had ticked for a long time when something moved behind him. He opened his eyes slightly and waited while staring into the pitch dark room, and soon felt a cold arm coil around his waist. A shiver made his skin crawl; the arm was so cold his hairs stood on end. A sniffle was heard, and then a face buried against his back, crying against his shirt.

“rry-“ someone whispered. “I am so, so sorry…”

Slaine closed his eyes again and sighed.

“It is too late to go back now, my princess,” he whispered back and felt Lemrina shake her head, rubbing her forehead against his back between the shoulder blades.

“I know,” she answered just as quietly and her cold hand gripped his shirt tightly. She was probably hurting. “I know, and I am so sorry about this. I know you might be angry and I will accept that. It is just that … you drive me mad; I cannot stop wanting you all to myself… And now that I have your warmth, I fear your cold anger.”

“My warmth will disappear soon enough when Count Saazbaum curses me,” Slaine answered. “You would have lost it sooner or later anyway.”

Lemrina’s arm around his waist tightened its grip and she moved close enough her entire cold body pushed against him. Slaine felt a stronger shiver as the cold felt unpleasant and overwhelming.

“Will you let me have it for a little while?” she asked cautiously.

Slaine inhaled deeply and said with a cold voice:

“Do what you want, Your Highness.”

Lemrina did not hesitate. She was greedy and sinful, which made her settle down next to him to swallow his heat while she slept. Slaine resigned himself to her greed and tried to get some sleep as well, but, once morning came, he had not gotten any sleep at all. Stress and anxiety for not being allowed to keep an eye on Asseylum’s corpse or for not being allowed to sleep in his own bed had kept him awake, and he had barely managed to slumber through a couple of hours.

He was exhausted when he woke up, and he felt the need to escape a couple of hours at sea with the small fast rescue boat to clear his mind and heart. He had to make it through today’s schedule at first, and he thought it through in his mind before leaving the bed where his future betrothed was still asleep.

First, he would quickly check up on Asseylum and make sure she was all right, before he was to be coached and tutored by Saazbaum after breakfast. Naval tactics was on today’s schedule, and Slaine prepared himself to lie in case Saazbaum would ask about the night between the lessons, while hoping Lemrina told the cursed count the same lie.

Then, he would visit Asseylum’s corpse in his old room and isolate himself there for a little while and keep her company. After that he would spend the rest of the evening out at sea, and perhaps go ashore to collect more flowers to bring back to Asseylum.

It would be a normal day, like any other day for the past nineteen months, but with the difference that he belonged to another room now.

†††

“Will you be all right?” Inko asked and gave Inaho his bag, which was packed with necessities, such as a map, compass, water and food, spying utilities and a first aid kit.

It was early morning, so early the sun had not reached the horizon yet. Inaho was on his way out on the mission to spy on the enemy ship, and would be lowered down with a small MOB boat and head toward Sandakan, where he would meet up with human rebels who would take him to the shore where they had spotted the enemy ships. It would take several hours for him to get from Sandakan to Bintulu, which meant he had to get out there early.

“Yes, I will only watch them from afar. Don’t worry,” Inaho said and heaved the backpack onto his back and strapped the straps across his chest and stomach to secure it. “Take care of the ship while I’m gone, all right?” he then said and looked up at Inko from adjusting the straps.

She smiled with gentle surprise and with blushing cheeks, saying:

“You really have learned small talk.” She took a deep breath and reached out a hand to caress the boy’s shoulder. “I’ll look after the ship while you’re gone. Don’t you worry,” she then promised him and took a step back when the davit operator announced he had prepared the boat. “Come back soon.”

Inaho nodded before climbing on board the boat, and said:

“See you later.”

With that, Inko’s eyes turned subtly worried, as if she was not trusting Inaho the slightest to take care of himself. It did not surprise him since he had been quite reckless nineteen months ago, and he still was because of the curse coursing through his veins.

As he was lowered and unhooked the MOB boat from the ship, he turned the batteries on and then started the engine. It rumbled with the sound of duty; it had been well maintained by the maintenance team since the engine sounded strong and capable. He gave the boat some thrust and steered the boat toward the coast of Sandakan, and followed the instructions to where he would find the rebels.

He was met by a team of four; two men and two women, who were all heavily armed. They were cautious about him at first, but once he had shown them the UN badge and proven he was not a pirate, bandit or any other form of enemy, they showed him to a dusty and battered off-road vehicle. They spoke with broken English and Inaho made his best to understand and make himself understood when they discussed the presence of the enemy.

The drive took nearly fifteen hours and Inaho had dozed off at some point. The heat close to the Equator was intense, which made him and the others on board sweat, which in turn dampened their clothes and made them uncomfortable. The rebels seemed to be used to it; they did not bother with the sweat at all, but Inaho was feeling dehydrated after just an hour on the road because he was unused to the climate after spending months and months in a military research facility.

When he awoke from the uncomfortable slumber, he was so thirsty he emptied an entire bottle and collapsed against the seat. His face was drenched in sweat and he wiped it dry with the dusty sleeve to his uniform; the vehicle had no doors and windows, which allowed the dust from the road pollute the air inside it. The wind from their speed had tousled his hair entirely by the time they reached Bintulu around six o’clock in the evening, and Inaho did not bother to take care of it. Instead, he let them give him directions to the shore where he would get the best view of the enemy fleet, and the brunet set out to find a good spot where he could spy. He would stay the night in the enemy camp, and then continue spying until noon before he would be taken back to Sandakan and back to Deucalion.

As he got to the shore, the fresh sea breeze caressed his cheeks and made his uniform flutter. The brunet took a deep breath and then searched for a good spot to spy, and he found it in the shade of a grove among red trumpet-shaped flowers. The scent from them was strong because of his superhuman smell, but since it was sweet and pleasant, he found it relaxing and enjoyable. He lay down there and pulled the camouflage net over him, and then raised the binoculars while a touchpad was close at hand to write down any information he found.

It was quite an uneventful time out there on the shore. He could see people moving on the decks of the fleet and the aircraft carrier had no aircrafts on deck except a few, probably standing on stand-by in case enemies would arrive and an attack would take place. Cargo was being exchanged and moved between ships and a lot of maintenance and deck personnel were moving around.

The visual attention the curse gave him was of great help; it allowed him to quickly map out the movements of the enemy on board the ships, and he quickly noticed if something happened. He could notice an officer flail with their arm toward a member of the deck personnel, and he could notice another sailor accidentally drop a paintbrush into the sea.

It was obvious the fleet was not there for the sake of being aggressive; they were probably so close to shore in order to express power and remind the humans in the area that the cursed creatures were still out there while they were doing maintenance.

Once the clock was about to hit eight in the evening, and the air had cooled somewhat, Inaho noticed something be lowered from the large aircraft carrier. It was a grey FRB, propelled by a water jet engine. A lone figure was on board it and unhooked the davit from the boat before setting course toward the shore where Inaho was hiding, and the brunet quickly moved further inside the grove to hide and keep an eye on the enemy closing in.

As he watched the one behind the helm, he saw blond hair fluttering and no sun protective gear that protected the enemy from the sun. His heart felt like it was making flips in his chest since he realized the one he was looking for was coming his way, unknowing that Inaho was hiding in the grove.

The lonely figure drove the boat up to the shore and turned the batteries off before looking out over the area once to make sure it was safe. Inaho made great care to not be seen, and managed to slip past the enemy’s attention. The brunet watched as the blond haired young man jumped down from the boat with a bag around his shoulder, and he noticed the figure moved slowly and tiredly. The enemy’s shoulders slumped and he wore a melancholy expression; the young man’s downhearted mood was shown in his entire being; in the way he moved, in how he looked like, in his posture and in his speed.

Slaine… The boy Seylum had loved. The boy Inaho had promised to love. What had happened to him? He was clearly alive and a human – yet, his heart seemed to bleed. The young man was dressed in a grey uniform of a knight. In other words, this time he was working with the enemy to gain something back from them; he was a vassal.

A vassal was most commonly a knight, Inaho had learned from studying the titles the enemy used, and a knight was often someone of low nobility who got paid by their king or emperor for their services. The usual collateral was not money, but assets of some kind. In the old feudal system, a knight often got paid in the form of land holdings and food, and a knight was a warrior. However, the young man Inaho watched now did not look like a warrior; he looked like a porcelain doll.

‘ _What is going on aboard that ship?_ ’ Inaho wondered and watched Slaine walk up to some red flowers a couple of meters away from him. ‘ _He’s picking flowers?_ ’ he then thought surprised as he watched Slaine cut the stem to a flower and place it in the bag he had brought with him.

The blond vassal seemed used to it, and he looked as if the activity gave him peace; his solemn expression lighted up somewhat and a shine began to glisten in his eyes. He looked contented. It was such an innocent sight Inaho was sure Seylum would have loved to watch the young man as well.

‘ _I promised her I would love him, too. Now, Seylum isn’t here to love him…_ ’

With that, Inaho rose up from his hiding place without letting the blond young man go with his gaze, and, when Slaine noticed him move and looked up toward him, his expression morphed into shock and the little color he had to his pale skin faded instantly – as if he had seen a ghost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you now have noticed, the world thinks Asseylum is dead and Lemrina has taken her place. I found that the plot in the anime made no sense because of how risky it was to have Lemrina impersonate Asseylum, and I decided to change that. In the process, I also changed the relationship between Slaine and Lemrina, making them both into caged birds who share the same fate and hates it equally while not having a choice. Why Lemrina is involved will be revealed later, since I am aware that her past is yet to be revealed.
> 
> And now, Inaho's found Slaine! 8D *so incredibly excited for the next chapter!*


	22. Unearthly Neighbors

The day had been uneventful, just like most of his days were. Slaine had done his duties as Saazbaum’s student and had tried to keep up with the cursed man’s teachings, but due to the sleepless night, nothing of what he had been taught had been memorized. Saazbaum had noticed his slugged state and commented on it – asking if Slaine had gotten enough sleep. Once the blond young man had answered that the night had been restless, the cursed count had smiled as if he had expected Slaine’s answer. The blood sacrifice had gotten the feeling that his master had thought something else had happened except the night being simply sleepless, and a bad taste had spread in Slaine’s mouth.

After the lessons, Slaine had had dinner with Harklight and then stayed in his old room, watching over Asseylum for a couple of hours. Lemrina had not been seen during the entire day, and Slaine had wondered if she had deliberately been hiding from him – ashamed of what she had done to him yesterday. The young man on the other hand, had been too exhausted to bother mulling over what had happened the day before, and he found it grateful; for once, he was allowed to simply rest and be tired and watch over his beloved without wasting the precious time on unpleasant things.

When the time was nearing eight o’clock in the evening, he saw his future fiancé in the hangar with Eddelrittuo at her side, watching over Borneo’s coastline. The island looked like a pale mirage due to the large space in between the ship and the island; the humid air hazed the view of the shape of land.

The reason Slaine had for going to the hangar was so that he could get out on the sea to let his mind rest and spend some time alone without the oppressive feeling of constantly being watched. He looked forward to pick some flowers, search for and choose only the prettiest to make a bouquet for the sleeping cursed princess. He had prepared himself with the watertight bag and knife, and he had a gun strapped to his hip just in case he would need it.

Before he walked over to the cursed princess and her handmaiden, he ordered one of the crewmembers to prepare the FRB for him. Then he looked at his future fiancé, who clearly ignored his presence; Slaine knew she had heard him and recognized his steps.

‘ _I might as well get wet…_ ’ he thought and took a silent deep breath.

“Good evening, my princess,” the vassal said as he walked over to the cursed princess and her handmaiden. Both of them turned to look at him; Lemrina watched him carefully, as if she was terrified of resting her eyes on him, and Eddelrittuo lowered her head to look down at the deck beneath her feet after exchanging a glance with the young man. “What brings you out here this lovely evening?” the young man continued and stopped next to Lemrina.

“Good evening, Sir Troyard,” Lemrina said quietly and turned to look out at sea again. “Are you perhaps going out to pick flowers again?”

She had noticed the bag on his shoulder.

“In fact, I am,” Slaine answered and smiled. He was too tired to be angry at her and he wondered if he was even allowed to be due to his own crimes toward her. “I would like to take the chance when I have it; so called: ‘savor the moment’. We shall be sailing back to Vers tomorrow once the maintenance is finished.”

“So I have heard,” the cursed princess answered. Her voice was cold, as if she was exhausted as well. “Will you bring me a bouquet this time, and not a single flower?”

Slaine frowned and smiled apologetically.

“I am afraid I will not be doing that, my princess,” he answered. He had to be strict with her; uphold the rules he had put up a long time ago to keep her at distance, prevent her from swallowing him whole. If he gave her too many exceptions, she would – before he could notice – corner him; claim him entirely. “I promised you a bouquet once a week when we are engaged, and that is yet to happen, Your Highness,” he then explained and folded his hands behind his back while looking out at sea.

Lemrina sighed tiredly and Slaine knew she did that because he was rejecting her again, hurting her by prioritizing Asseylum while talking about engagement with her unfortunate sister in the same breath. What he and Lemrina would have was only to be political, nothing more. It frustrated him she would not, or refused to, understand that.

“I see…” the cursed princess murmured with her still heart growing dark.

Slaine feared she might get an idea to hasten the plans for their future simply to avenge her heartache again – just as she had done the day before – and he thought he should compromise to avoid another conflict. On the other hand, he felt sorry for her and wanted to make her smile at least a little before he left out to the sea, one way or another.

‘ _I’m just frustrated that I am the only one who wants to avoid a conflict_ ,’ he thought, but forced his lips to curve into a smile.

“What about I bring you the prettiest flower in the bunch?” Slaine then said and smiled warmly. He was relieved he was exhausted enough to play along without a fight.

“All flowers look the same,” the cursed girl answered without looking up at him or changing her expression the slightest. She looked tired. It was all there was to her mood, and it felt dangerous for the blond.

Slaine frowned at her answer. She knew he would hurt her by giving her lip service and tell her what she wanted to hear to make her momentarily happy; later he would break her heart. Why did she push him into deceiving her like that? She was being moody, probably because she knew Slaine would try to cheer her up, and wanted him to do that as well.

And so he did.

“I would refrain from saying that,” he said quietly and placed his hands on Lemrina’s shoulders and gazed out at sea along with her. The cursed girl stiffened from his touch. “All individual flowers have a certain beauty to them that they do not share with others,” he said and leaned closer to continue with a warm but teasing tone: “I shall bring you a flower, so kindly smile for me once before I leave so I can search for the flower that matches your smile.”

Lemrina was silent for a couple of seconds, as if trying to avoid reacting to it, before giggling amused and looking up at him with a frowning but candid smile, saying:

“You are quite ostentatious with your ever so kind words, Sir Troyard,” she said and shook her head. “Teasing a girl with such silly language… You are a heartbreaker.”

Slaine chuckled, candidly as well – relieved she was starting to warm up to him.

“I have more in store, my princess. Please, do not force me to word them,” he said and Lemrina got a devious look in her blue eyes.

“Oh, please do, Sir Troyard. Tell me a bad one,” he urged, and Slaine chuckled and walked around her to crouch down in front of her and look at her.

“Aside from a pretty flower, I would want to give you a cupcake,” he said while feeling ridiculous. “But I think you are sweet enough as it is; you give me a toothache.”

The cursed princess’s smile widened and she shook her head again, leaning closer to whisper:

“That was a really lame one,” she said, and Slaine leaned closer to her and whispered back:

“I know an even shoddier one.”

“Oh? Try me,” Lemrina challenged, and Slaine said with a serious look in his eyes and a grave tone to his voice:

“I want to live in Your Highness’s socks so that I can be with you every step of the way.”

Lemrina burst out laughing and even Eddelrittuo pressed her lips together and smiled. Slaine chuckled along with the cursed princess and felt relief that he had managed to lighten her mood. He knew she had not entirely recovered from the glumness, but he knew he had to take this opportunity and speak to her about what she was doing to him and herself – that she was being destructive like this – and his smile faded as he quietly continued:

“Lemrina… I have one more.” The cursed girl looked down at him and Slaine watched her smile fade as she saw his saddened expression and heard the seriousness in his voice. “You have dropped something,” he whispered.

“What?” the cursed princess asked carefully and confused, and Slaine took both of her hands into his and sighed:

“Your standard.” He made a pause to squeeze her hands gently and looked meaningfully into her eyes, before he continued: “I want to warn you, Your Highness, that no matter how much you love me, I will be your worst mistake if you keep this up. Please, make yourself a favor and reason with your heart; I will never make you happy.”

The cursed princess did not say a word for a while and Slaine lowered his head in an apology. Perhaps he had spoken out of place and made Lemrina angry again, but he could not bear to see her laughing and smiling to lines that were mere jokes. He hoped she could understand that, that he was not being serious with her, but he got his answer as Lemrina pulled her right hand away from his and raised his head up with the hand beneath Slaine chin.

As he looked up at her, her smile was sorrowful and forgiving, begging and painful:

“I know. However,” she said quietly. “You will be my favorite worst mistake.”

So, she was aware of how their future would look like. Her answer did not relieve his heavy heart at all as she asked him to continue hurting her.

‘ _In other words, I can’t escape you_ ,’ the blond thought with a heavy heart. She would not let him go.

“There is no need to bring me the prettiest flower, Slaine,” she continued. “I will not ask that of you since I think I have taken far more than I should from you; I believe I am not worthy of a flower today,” she then said.

“The rescue boat is ready, Sir Troyard,” the crewmember said who had prepared the FRB, and Slaine lowered his gaze and stood up.

“I will be out for a couple of hours. Do not wait for me,” he said to the cursed girl, and Lemrina nodded.

“Be careful,” she said gently.

“I will. Thank you, Your Highness,” he answered and left for the boat that hung in the davit outside the opening to the hangar, and climbed on board.

Once he got on board the rescue boat and it had been lowered and unhooked, he steered the boat toward the shore where he had found the red trumped-shaped flowers during his previous scouting mission. The sun was snuggling closer to the horizon and he decided he would not pay any heed to the time; he would stay out until he felt he could return to the ship. He had sailed the sea during nighttime before in the same boat he drove now, which made him feel safe even after darkness had fallen.

As he got close to the shore that seemed empty of people from his distance, he closed the inlet for the water jet and let the boat glide up onto the soft sandy beach. The shore was empty as far as he could see, and he determined it was safe enough and jumped down from the boat to walk up to the grove with flowers.

His mind was being occupied by Lemrina and Asseylum, of what he had to do in the name of love, duty and honor, as well as pride. The more he thought about it, the more his life felt like a cruel joke, into which he had thrown himself head first without thinking things through.

‘ _Like usual_ ,’ he thought and reached the flowers with a gloomy mind. ‘ _Everything I did was by a whim, according to the emotions I had._ ’

He had known what risks and demands he took and would be exposed to, but back then, he had felt as if he could do anything in Asseylum’s name. Now, however, reality had caught up with the naïve boy he had been, and the young man knew he had sentenced himself to fall to pieces that night nineteen months ago.

He had learned his lesson, and had become better at handling his emotions after he had been forced to quench them in order to keep Asseylum safe by playing along with the never-ending charade around Saazbaum and Lemrina. It made his emotions stack up inside him, inside the boxes his mind prepared neatly, and it made him frustrated and tired.

The energy to keep his back straight faltered now that he was free from the mother ship, nor did he find a reason to look prideful now that he was this far away. He let his body be as exhausted as it was, and he was eager to start building the bouquet he would bring back to his slumbering beloved.

Butterflies fluttered everywhere among the flowers, probably attracted by the sweet air around the bushes, and he looked for the flowers that were not damaged and looked healthy. Those he found pretty enough were cut and put in the bag he had placed next to him, and he continued for a while and felt his mind be emptied of the melancholy thoughts as his heart felt slightly more alive.

For the first time, during the entire day, he felt like smiling candidly, but the joyful emotion was quickly interrupted by something moving in the corner of his eye. He quickly looked up toward it since he knew it would be dangerous to ignore anything moving in his eyesight while on enemy territory; even if he was relaxed while picking flowers, he was still very much aware of his surroundings.

As he looked up, his alert mind came to a sudden halt. Brown tousled hair and a burgundy eye – the other covered with an eye patch – looked back at him from where the boy had emerged from the grove not too far away from Slaine. All warmth slipped out of him. It was as if a ghost had come back to haunt him, and the blond was so shocked to see his former enemy walk toward him – alive and well – that he was completely lost in what to do next.

‘ _Orange…! He’s not dead?_ ’ he thought and felt a tremble beam down his nerves, briefly making him shudder. ‘ _I didn’t notice him at all! Has he come back for revenge?_ ’

Then – as the thought had flickered in his mind for a short while – a rush of energy exploded in his limbs and he jumped up from where he sat and began running toward the boat, leaving the unfinished bouquet and empty bag behind.

What was Orange doing here? How could he be alive? Why did he have to rise up from the grave to come for him now? No matter the reason, Slaine could not let himself be captured. If he disappeared from Asseylum’s side, something bad would happen to the sleeping cursed princess.

‘ _Without me, she will die! I can’t allow him to take his revenge!_ ’

It was as if he was moving slower than usual compared to his chaser, as if Slaine was fighting through thick mud; Orange caught up with him out of nowhere and a strong hand took hold of Slaine’s wrist and forced him into a sudden stop. Right before the blond-haired young man got the chance to fight back, he was wrestled to the ground within the blink of an eye. As he was falling, he pushed his body to land on his back; if he landed face down, he would be in a vulnerable position where he would be unable to fight, and he had to keep resisting in whatever way he could.

‘ _My heart…!_ ’ he thought as he felt a sudden twinge in his chest from the rush of adrenaline. ‘ _Not now!_ ’

It turned out that it did not to matter if he was positioned face down or on his back; his arms were tightly pinned against the sand above his head by Orange’s right hand while the other reached down beneath the coat tail of Slaine’s uniform and removed the gun on the young man’s hip – throwing it so far out at sea it would be impossible to retrieve it. Then the enemy straddled him and rested his entire weight on Slaine’s hips to prevent the blond from getting up.

‘ _Damn it!_ ’

“Calm down,” Slaine heard a soothingly calm voice say. The Versian vassal looked up into that expressionless burgundy eye staring back at him. The blond tried to pull his arms free, but the enemy held them like in a vise. “Don’t resist,” the boy leaning over him warned.

The brunet was strong – frighteningly strong; Slaine’s wrists were completely nailed to the sandy bed and all he could do was to stare at the enemy who had overpowered him without breaking a sweat. Orange was not even out of breath while Slaine felt his pulse pound in his ears and his lungs demanded more oxygen than normal.

‘ _What’s going on?_ ’

Slaine understood that he was weaker than the other, which forced him to either accept the situation or do something to free himself with tricks – if he had any. The presence of the brunet was jumbling his mind, preventing him from forming any kind of plan but a desperate one:

†††

“I am of no threat to you,” Inaho watched the blond gasp out of breath and look up at him, who stared back at the Versian vassal, studying him carefully. The blond looked as if he was masking some kind of pain. “I was just picking flowers.”

Inaho did not trust Slaine entirely; he was staring at the glare only Bat would give him. The kindhearted Slaine would never look at him like that, as if he waited for an opportunity to hurt the brunet in order to run away. The blond seemed to be in an erratic state.

“You have grown,” the brown-haired boy said to break the tension between them and show the blond he was no threat to him, and the blond young man looked as though he was taken aback by Inaho’s unexpected comment.

As Inaho had let the blond collect his mind for a brief moment, Bat grinned condescendingly and said:

“So have you. However, you seem to have grown in strength rather than height.”

Inaho was unsure what Bat meant when saying something like that, but no matter what he said Inaho could not honestly bother; what others thought about him did not usually matter one bit. Then again, it would have been nice if Bat decided to be Slaine during their reunion, since it meant less work for the brunet; Inaho wished to speak to Slaine, not Bat.

“Is that an insult?” the brunet asked instead to clarify what mindset Bat was in, and the vassal’s condescending expression turned perplexed instead, as if he was surprised about Inaho wanting to clarify what he had meant.

“Take that however you wish,” the blond young man answered silently and then frowned as he looked into Inaho’s eye gazing back at him, saying carefully: “I thought I killed you.”

“You nearly did,” the brunet answered calmly.

Inaho tried to keep his body language as relaxed and calm as possible to not give Bat the feeling of being threatened, but it looked as if Bat had difficulties of what to think about Inaho’s sudden appearance and made him tense no matter what Inaho did. He probably expected Inaho to be vengeful and want to attempt satisfying his anger for what Slaine had done to him nineteen months ago, but there was no anger wading in the brunet’s mind or heart.

‘ _Please, understand_ …’

“Are you here for revenge?” the blond finally decided to ask, and Inaho stared back at him and answered curtly:

“No.”

It was as if emptiness engulfed the blond for a moment; as if he had been thrown off course. Slaine had probably been so sure that retribution had been Inaho’s objective, that now that he learned it was not the case, he was completely lost. There was something in the blond young man’s eyes that told Inaho he knew something that was true, however: Since Inaho had attacked him like this, Slaine must have figured out the brunet had personal business with him, or else Inaho would have let Slaine pick his flowers in peace, unknowing of his presence.

“Why? I tried to kill you,” Bat asked and was cautious about his attacker, clearly still not entirely sure of what to think about the situation.

“I would have died anyway from the damage done by the count. You simply hurried it along,” the brunet answered frankly.

‘ _I don’t mind that you tried to kill me; you didn’t know what my objective was_ ,’ Inaho thought.

His mind had spun the memory over and over again throughout the past nineteen months to figure out how he felt about what Slaine had done under the influence of his own emotions, and come to the conclusion they had parted after an unfortunate meeting back on Tanegashima, where Inaho had intentionally aggravated the blond into attacking him because he lacked the knowledge of who Slaine had been for Seylum.

‘ _We both simply tried to protect her; you did nothing wrong, Slaine_.’

“That is an odd way to put it; you are awfully forgiving,” the blond young man said quietly while peering into Inaho’s eye. “I am fairly certain I put a bullet in your head; had you not been dying already I would have surely been your lone murderer. I would have been furious, had I been you,” he then said and prepared himself for a possible attack by his entire body stiffening beneath Inaho.

Instead, the brunet said with a calm and soothing voice:

“That’s because you’re so passionate.”

‘ _You’re like a raging fire with those emotions of yours; merciful and merciless all at the same time_.’

Inaho’s answer seemed to take Slaine completely off guard; his words were caught in his throat and the blond could only glare back at him without finding words to say. Seylum had been speaking about the little boy Slaine had been with such detail Inaho knew Slaine was like a firecracker, quickly reacting to the sudden impacts from his emotions. The late cursed princess had painted a beautiful image of the blond young man into the brunet’s mind, and Inaho had been eager to find him and rest his eyes on him; to see what Seylum had seen in him.

‘ _There’s no one in the whole wide world I have wanted to see this badly but you_ ,’ Inaho thought and felt as if he was swimming in the tropically hued water colored eyes looking at him.

He allowed Slaine to collect his mind while he stared back at the brunet, and, after a little while, Inaho felt him relax somewhat as he slowly began to understand Inaho was not an aggressive threat. As he had relaxed as much as was possible, Bat asked with sharp words:

“Then what do you want?”

Inaho decided the other had calmed down enough he dared to let him go. He released Slaine’s wrists and sat up, but still weighed the Versian vassal down against the sandy beach with his weight to prevent him from running away – just in case.

“To take you with me,” he answered, and the blond pushed himself up on his elbows and scoffed:

“Just like that? Why did you wait to tell me that until now?”

Inaho countered with another blunt answer:

“Because you asked me if I was here for revenge. I thought I should make it clear to you that I wasn’t.”

The air became silent and awkward between them as they stared at each other once again, but it was all Slaine’s fault; he had asked the question that had given him an answer that made him feel dim-witted. Inaho was sure the Versian vassal found it difficult to have a conversation with him, since their sentences felt like they were stumbling forward without knowing where the conversation would lead.

What would the vassal try to do now? If Bat did not come up with a plan that took Inaho completely off guard, then the brunet would drag him with him all the way to Deucalion – in handcuffs if he had to.

“Will you come with me?” the brunet decided to ask to make sure if Bat would resist him or if Slaine decided to come with him.

The blond frowned and stared at him with clear confusion, probably wondering where the brunet wanted to take him.

“Where to?” he finally asked and lowered his eyes in a dishonest defeat; Inaho had a hunch the other was lying about giving up.

“To Deucalion,” Inaho answered and watched him closely now that he waited for the other to either lie or tell the truth of what he would choose to do.

“Do I have a choice?” the blond wondered and Inaho decided to get off of him to give Slaine a break; the brunet wished not to treat Slaine as a prisoner if he could avoid it.

“You tell me,” the brunet answered and reached a hand to the Versian vassal. Slaine looked up at him, surprised that Inaho did not put him in handcuffs or bound his arms and ankles. “Which do you think offers you the better choice? The cursed creatures or UN?” the brown-haired boy then asked and looked at the blond while waiting patiently. He was still prepared to take action if he had to.

Slaine looked down at Inaho’s hand and back up at the boy again, and then reached out his hand to take a hold of it. As the brunet took a hold of his hand to pull him up, he felt the other shiver just slightly.

‘ _Nineteen months ago, you were hungry for human touch_ ,’ Inaho thought and looked at Bat who tried to force the desperate Slaine back from demanding more warmth from the brunet. ‘ _I’ll give as much warmth to you as you want me to. Take it all if you wish; you just have to ask_.’

If only Bat could give in to Slaine’s whim and come with Inaho to the UN… The brunet knew the human side of the war would have offered the blond a better life – even as a prisoner of war. If he went with Inaho now, he would leave all the pain and suffering from the cursed world behind him and never be lonely again; Inaho would be at his side no matter what to give him the warmth he wanted and hungered for.

‘ _I’ll protect you_.’

“What if I want to return to the cursed?” the Versian vassal asked as Inaho released his hand.

The blond looked at the brunet with a less intense glare, probably after being affected by the warm touch he had registered around his hand as Inaho had held it. The brunet took a step forward, readying himself to catch Bat in case he would try to run away. Bat answered with taking a step away from him instead, but did not run.

“Then I will have to take you with me by force,” Inaho answered and had his muscles tense just enough to allow him to dash forward in case the obstinate Bat would try to run away. There was a hint in the other’s eyes that he would attempt at escaping – as if adrenaline was coursing through him. Inaho would not let him.

As expected, the blond suddenly turned around and ran toward the boat. Once again, the brunet chased him down within the blink of an eye, catching up to him like a flash. He grabbed a hold of the blond’s wrist and pushed him down in the sand again, but this time, before Inaho managed to pin Bat’s arms down again, the vassal was ready.

“You are arrested as a prisoner of war. If you resist-“ Inaho began to say, but was brutally interrupted by the wild-hearted Bat, who threw a handful of sand at Inaho’s face, and grains got in his eye.

†††

The image of Asseylum flashed through his mind at hearing Orange’s threat of apprehending him, and the blond took a handful of sand and threw it straight in his assaulter’s face. Orange released him immediately – gasping painfully as the grains scraped against his eye – and the blond dashed up after throwing the boy off of him, to hurry toward his boat waiting for him at shore. With adrenalin pulsing through him, he pushed the boat out into the sea with great strength he had not mustered forth for a very long time, and then hurried to climb on board.

‘ _This is not good!_ ’ he thought and felt his chest begin to tighten again; the angina quickly rose in intensity and he needed to calm down somehow and not exert himself to make it go away, but he had not time for that. ‘ _My heart condition…!_ ’

He was in such stress he forgot to turn the boat’s batteries on before attempting to start the engine, and, naturally, the engine would not start no matter how many times he turned the key in the switch. The boat was slowly caught by the waves and currents, pulling it out at sea, and Slaine’s blunder gave Orange time to recover from the young man’s attack and run after him.

The blond vassal gasped from his chest tightening and hurting horribly, and leaned against the control and steering station while trying to turn the key, but to no avail.

“Damn it…!” he gasped and gave up due to the slowly intensifying angina. A pressure weighed on his chest, making his breaths restricted and strained, cold sweat broke out on his skin and nausea welled up in his stomach.

He looked up at his enemy only to see the boy use the same force as a cursed creature would to accumulate strength in his legs, performing a push-off from the shore, leaping across the short distance and landing in the water in front of the grey FRB. The enemy grabbed the white mooring rope in the bow, and Slaine could only stare at him with shock and disbelief as the brunet pulled the nearly two metric tons heavy FRB back to the shore with his bare hands.

“What on earth-?” the blond gasped as the boat was pulled all the way up onto the sandy beach; it was impossible to escape now.

If Slaine disregarded all the laws concerning the curse’s nature, things began to make sense with why Orange was so fast, why he was so strong and – most importantly – why he was still alive. It was impossible, however, since the laws of the curse should apply to the brunet if he truly was a vampire, but it did not; Orange was not burning in the sun.

“Why are you as strong as a vampire, but you can move in daylight?!” he asked despite the tightness in his chest, demanding to hear an answer with a strong voice that rung powerfully in the proximity; he was compensating for his sudden fear of the other. “What are you?!”

The strength left him as he exerted himself and made him feel like collapsing. Bravely, he fought the fear of his heart going into cardiac arrest, and, nervously, he pushed himself to look at the brunet with an aggressive and unwavering glare.

Orange did not answer the question thrown at him, and instead kept watching the blond-haired young man who had become his prisoner. Slaine knew he had to fight him; he would not go with him; Orange had to force him into submission if he wanted to bring him with him to the UN.

‘ _But he’s strong enough that I can’t do anything_ ,’ he thought panicked. ‘ _Asseylum can’t survive without me! I have to get away from him!_ ’ he thought and felt his chest sting painfully from the sudden stress he was going through.

He tried to bear it to look brave, but the angina made him feel anxious and nauseous enough he had to suddenly take a deep and visible breath to sigh; he felt as if he was nearly suffocating. When he raised his hand to his chest, silently telling his heart to calm down, Orange tilted his head somewhat while studying Slaine closely, probably noticing he feelt ill. The blond sat down on the seat in front of the steering and control station, and leaned against the helm.

The entire vessel rocked suddenly from Slaine’s movement and made him desperately take a hold of the helm to not fall over. Orange walked over to the edge of the boat and took a hold of it to steady the vessel that rested on its pointy keel, and looked up at the Versian vassal.

“So what, now?” Slaine finally asked breathlessly. “You want to talk something over?” the blond weakly barked.

“No,” Orange answered with calm. “I want to ask you to change sides and fight with me. You asked me to bring you with me back at Tanegashima; I’m here to do that now.”

Slaine went silent and could only stare at him, disbelieving of what he heard the other say. Their brief history was filled with nothing but fighting and rivalry. Why was Orange so casually asking him to change sides in the war, as if their past did not matter? The brunet certainly did not see Slaine as his enemy, which bewildered the young man when he considered all that he had done to him.

‘ _Why? We both tried to protect Asseylum, thinking the other was her enemy_ ,’ Slaine thought confused.

Maybe the culprit to Slaine’s previous hate was jealousy – which it had been back on Tharsis when he had shot the boy – or maybe it was unreasonable anger that lingered from their first encounter that made the blond so fired up about the other? Slaine was not sure anymore; in his mind, Orange had been dead for too long. It was difficult to combat the confusion of him suddenly emerging from the grave, and it was impossible to remember exactly why he hated him; those emotions and reasons had died with the brunet nineteen months ago and, suddenly, Slaine had to pick them up again and dust them off.

“That is not possible,” Slaine decided to answer while he glared at the brunet.

Orange let go of the boat and got on board with a swift jump that was nonhuman-like. Something strange had happened to him for sure; it was impossible to deny it. Slaine felt insecure with the mystery around the brown-haired boy; even his most subtle movement gossiped of power and strength that no human had.

‘ _He moves like a vampire_ ,’ Slaine concluded as he watched Orange’s movements that were more graceful than any human’s Slaine had seen before; the boy moved like water when moving slowly, and like air when moving quickly.

“Then you are my prisoner,” the brunet said and calmly untied the mooring rope from the bow and walked up to the blond, who was cornered in the aft of the boat, behind the control and steering station.

Slaine briskly smacked the boy’s hands away when Orange reached out to apprehend him, and felt fire burst out into his veins. He would not let him bind him with a mooring rope.

“Are you kidding me?! Do not touch me!” he ordered the other, who made another attempt without giving Slaine any kind of reaction. Instead, it was Slaine who slumped against the helm once more and gasped; the sudden rush of adrenaline was bad for the angina, and he panted for breath.

“How are you feeling? You look ill,” the brunet remarked, and the distressed Slaine looked up at him angrily.

“I feel perfectly fine!” he lied with a snarl, knowing the other probably understood that. Slaine did not feel too well, which showed on his face.

Then again, Orange’s emotionless expression ticked the blond off and made him want to provoke him. How could Orange be so calm and not show any reaction at all while Slaine was feeling erratic, frightened, angry and desperate at the same time? He felt like a cornered rat, ready to claw and bite the cat that was chasing him.

“It’s no use fighting back. You’re human, aren’t you?” Orange asked instead and finally took a grip around Slaine’s right wrist.

“And you are not?” the blond asked sharply while still glaring at him, uselessly trying to pull his hand back to him.

“I am, and at the same time I’m not,” Orange answered and held Slaine’s wrist without putting excessive strength into his grip. “I was blessed with a faulty curse, which allows me to take you with me by force if I have to.”

“Faulty?” Slaine asked and knitted his eyebrows before he was brusquely turned around and got his hands tied behind his back. “Release me this instant!” the blond then protested angrily and yanked the rope that bound his hands. He began to feel panicked. “I cannot go with you!”

Orange did not listen to him as he had probably made up his mind about taking the blond with him. The moment he took hold of Slaine’s arm to show him down from the boat, Slaine bore his heels into the deck to stop the boy from dragging him along, yelling desperately:

“No! You can’t take me with you! I have to go back!” Orange paid him no mind and the blond nearly lost his footing as the boat rocked from their weight shifting as they moved. “Listen to me, god damn it!”

“Give me a reason to hear what you have to say,” Orange said and jumped down from the boat and looked up at the blond. “But before that, I suggest you come down from there since your hands are tied; you can’t hold onto anything in case the boat tilts.”

‘ _And whose fault is that_?’ Slaine thought, but decided to not voice it out loud.

Slaine understood he had no other choice but to do as Orange said, and he sighed and let his shoulders slump with honest defeat. He could not be obstinate with angina like this. Gently, Orange caught him as the tired Versian vassal got down, and the warmth from his arms was briefly comforting, calming the blond and his chest pains just a little, making him behave in the same moment.

Slaine was shown to a tree in the grove and an order to sit down made him slump his back against the trunk. He watched as the brunet began to pack a large military backpack that lay hidden behind the tree Slaine was leaning against.

The silence was oppressive and excruciating, but the brunet did not seem to share Slaine’s opinion since he kept emptying the spot, from things that gossiped of his presence, without uttering a single word or exchanging a look with the young man. Slaine kept glaring at him, however, not releasing him with his stare to let Orange know the blood sacrifice was not cooperative. It turned out it was all in vain; Orange did not even seem to notice him. Instead, the brunet had a focused attention on packing everything neatly in the bag.

In the end, Slaine could not bear the quietness anymore, and he sighed and said:

“They will come and look for me.”

The brunet gave no reaction, and Slaine briefly thought of it as strange how the other could be so objective and show so little emotion.

“Why?” Orange asked with his expression still the same as before, and with the voice that sounded so very soothing, and Slaine frowned:

“What do you mean ‘why’? Of course they will come and look for me.”

“You’re a blood sacrifice and, determined by the clothes you wear, a vassal whom they buy services from,” the brunet said and brushed off sand from the binoculars he picked up. “Why are you so important that they will search for you? It can’t be your blood since you seem to be feeling ill.”

Slaine scoffed and the sound of the bag’s zipper being closed tickled his ears. Never would he tell the other what worth the vassal had to the cursed nation. Or would he?

“You are a sharp one,” he commented curtly and Orange sincerely thanked him for his ‘compliment’, which took Slaine somewhat off guard. “Whatever the reason, they will come and look for me once they cannot get a hold of me through the radio,” he continued. “The boat has a transmitter on it as well; they will find me through the satellite signal in no time.”

Orange did not say a word and stood up to walk to the boat. Slaine watched with shock as the brunet pulled the control and steering station open with sheer force, and rummaged around in it for a while before returning to the camp with the unchanging and emotionless expression.

“It’s out of order. I don’t think they’ll find you with the satellite,” the brunet said and continued preparing his backpack as if nothing had happened, and all Slaine could do was to stare at the other with disbelief while gritting his teeth, cursing himself for forgetting the brunet was a human with the strength of a cursed creature.

He also cursed his eagerness to threaten and provoke the brunet. Had he kept silent about the transmitter that let the mother ship know where he was, he would have probably been saved within a couple of hours. Now, that option had been removed by his own stupidity, and he had no choice but to hope someone from the Saazbaum fleet would find him in the small grove out of luck.

When Orange was finished packing, he sat down opposite of Slaine and watched him, studying him closely. The blond stared back at him with a piercing glare and waited impatiently for Orange to say or do something while trying to breathe calmly despite the shortness of breath. However, no words came out of the brunet’s mouth.

Instead, he leaned closer on all four, and Slaine – with sudden shock and fright – pushed his back against the trunk of the tree and stared at him with his heart racing, stirring up the angina again. Orange raised his hand and reached it toward the Versian vassal, and the blond squeezed his eyes shut and prepared for whatever touch he would receive from the brunet by holding his breath.

Carefully, the collar to his uniform was pulled down on the left side of his neck, and a warm hand softly and gently pushed against the area where scars from the vampires’ bites had thickened his skin. In an instant, a shiver of pleasant warmth ran through the blond, who could not help but to release a sharp gasp and feel his muscles relax. Tears sprung to his eyes and he was completely taken over by the gentle feeling that coursed through him, calming his heart.

“Are you really still a blood sacrifice?” Orange’s quiet voice asked, and Slaine slowly opened his eyes just slightly to look at the other.

Slaine closed his eyes again and stayed silent. That was all he could answer with as he gave more and more in to the warmth from the other. He was surprised of how calm he had become by a single touch of a human hand, but remembered he reacted this way the first time Orange had done this as well. The same thing had happened with Harklight when the servant had been giving him calming caresses nineteen months ago and made his blood pressure lower, relaxed the muscles and calmed his mind. With that, the chest pains had slowly dissolved.

‘ _Nineteen months…_ ’ the blond thought and knitted his eyebrows.

The starvation for the warmth from another living being must have been unforgiving since he was so quick to give in to the other’s touch, despite Orange being an enemy. It was not a conscious decision either to give up like this; Slaine’s body reacted on its own as it was reminded how the touch of another life felt like. He could not remember any other human touching him but his father, Orange and Harklight; everyone else had been undead and cold.

“Are they treating you well?” the brunet’s soothing voice then asked as he seemed to understand the blond vassal would not answer his previous questions.

The voice was intoxicatingly gentle and caressed the tired young man’s eardrums pleasantly. The calmness had not escaped the brunet’s voice even in his dying moment nineteen months ago; the calming voice seemed to be a trait he had. The voice crept deeper into the blond’s brain and lingered there like a warm blanket, comforting his tired mind better than the sea would ever do.

Slaine frowned and kept silent with great effort. The human presence was overwhelming and his hairs stood on end across his entire skin. He wanted the other warm creature to touch him more – give him all of his warmth. Slaine would gladly, unresistingly accept it in whatever form it came, and he would greedily engulf it all.

“Slaine…” he heard the other’s voice say right in front of his face.

Something warm touched his forehead and brushed his bangs away from his eyes, and then a breath tickled his lips and cheeks and the young man opened his eyes just slightly. Orange leaned his forehead against his and raised his hands to cup Slaine cheeks. A weak gasp escaped Slaine’s lips and he shuddered vividly enough the brunet noticed it; even his breath trembled at feeling the warm hands against his cheeks.

“I know I may not look like her, feel like her or smell like her,” Orange said and the young man frowned as he was perplexed of what the brunet was doing and why he was mentioning the sleeping princess – who Orange had no idea about was still alive. “But please, regard me as her. I won’t hurt you.”

“What?” the blond asked. “Why…?”

A burgundy eye gazed back at him, and the lips in front of Slaine’s spoke the silent words:

“Because you’re obviously in pain and she’s not here to do this to you; I will do it in her place.”

‘ _Asseylum…_ ’

Abruptly, before Slaine understood what was going on, tears welled up in his eyes and wetted his lashes, and then they began rolling down his cheeks while exhaustion came over him. The ache in his chest awoke but it was not the angina this time, and he wanted to pull his arms free to put them around himself. The rope was too strong for him to free his hands, and Slaine could do nothing but stay in the vulnerable state right in front of the other.

For whatever reason, he lowered his gaze and whimpered:

“Let me go back…”

“No,” the brunet answered quickly and dried the blond’s tears away with gentle caresses. “You reacted like this back on Tanegashima. Do you remember that?” Slaine did remember, and he listened to Orange continue: “Back then you asked me to take you with me, but I didn’t because I couldn’t trust you to not hurt the princess, who was with me back then.” Slaine gritted his teeth and looked up at the boy, staring into that burgundy eye while feeling his breath on the lips. “Why don’t you want to come with me now?”

In honesty, he wanted to be freed from the cursed creatures; from Saazbaum and Lemrina – even from Asseylum. Then again, no matter what he felt, reality was not accommodating; Asseylum would die from him disappearing, which gave him no choice but to return to her side on board Dioscuria; she was not dead yet; Slaine could still save her.

‘ _She’s divine and untouchable; my everything. I can’t let her die because I want to live_ ,’ he thought with a shivering breath.

“I … can’t…” the blond finally said and thought the words sounded as heavy as his burdened shoulders felt.

“But you want to?” Orange asked.

Slaine could neither shake his head or nod. He wanted to escape, but he knew his leash was too tight and short.

“I have to go back,” he whispered instead. “I have to go back…” he repeated as Inaho’s thumbs caressed his tears away. “I … have to…”

‘ _Don’t stop._ ’

Orange let go of his cheeks as Slaine released a desperate whimper, and, the next thing Slaine knew, his body was pulled into an embrace. He opened his eyes with shock and found that he stared at the sandy beach behind his enemy’s back while warmth spread through him, reminding him that life still existed outside his own body; he was not alone.

Warm hands resting on his back… A warm shoulder to rest his cheek on… Warm arms holding him gently… A warm chest to lean against… The brown-haired boy tightened his arms around the blond and held him preciously; not too tightly to make it unbearable, but closely enough to let the blond know he was in a safe embrace.

Orange smelled of sweat; it was a musky odor, probably caused by the hot temperatures. The brunet must have been exposed to the heat for a long time. Slaine did not mind it, however, since it smelled so human his mind spun out of control for a short moment. Vampires did not sweat; they could not smell like a human did, and Slaine took a deep breath and let his tired body rest against the other to selfishly wallow in the brunet’s humanity.

This time, had his arms been free, he knew for sure he would have draped them around the brown-haired enemy. It was not the intention of Orange’s touch that overwhelmed him like this; Slaine did not give a damn if it was an honorable representation of something Asseylum would have done. It was the warmth. It was all about the warmth.

Nothing but the warmth…

He became dangerously greedy. He wanted all of the comfort Orange had to give him and he wanted it to never end – just like Lemrina did to him. The cold hands and strict voices, the sharp teeth and the stale atmosphere in the rooms and corridors on Dioscuria… All of that was cruel and painful, and Slaine knew it was all that waited for him once he returned to the Versian ship. It made him fear this would be the last time he was held like this by a human and feel the warmth he was starving for before he was cursed. He had to savor this moment – whether it was shared with his friend or foe did not matter.

“I sense that you want to come with me, but there is something holding you back,” Orange murmured and a kind hand brushed through Slaine’s hair, pushed a pleasant shiver to run down his spine.

Slaine wondered if he had to be honest about what was going on. After all, Orange – no, Inaho – was someone Asseylum had cared about enough to reach her hand out to him in her dying moment. Maybe the brunet was someone he could trust? He had been trying to save her as well, after all.

‘ _His touch is messing with my head_ ,’ the blond thought troubled.

“Why are you being this kind to the one who made you lose that eye of yours?” he then asked instead. “It was because of me, right?”

“Because I forgive you,” the brunet murmured with that soothing voice, which reached all the way into Slaine’s brain and cuddled it.

Slaine chuckled sorrowfully and took a deep and greedy breath of Orange’s smell.

“Are you a masochist?” the blond asked, and was countered with a question:

“Are you a sadist?”

Slaine was taken aback by the question and tried to understand what he had heard since he had not expected something like that to come at him, and then smiled wryly.

“Only with you, it seems,” he said quietly and felt Orange’s breaths against the back of his neck when the enemy shifted his face to bury it into Slaine’s neck as well, saying:

“I’m honored…”

Slaine knitted his eyebrows. Orange- No… Inaho truly was strange for accepting abuse like that, and by a stranger. The air was entirely devoid of negative and bitter emotions, and the young man thought that perhaps this boy was being honest with him and was someone he could confide in. The warmth of the brunet’s voice, words and body had convinced him Inaho was of no danger, and the time that had gone by, with Slaine believing his enemy was dead, had slowly deteriorated the pure hate he had felt toward him. It was too late to pick up those specific emotions and breathe life into them, since they had been dead for too long.

“Idiot…” Slaine whispered and let himself smile genuinely for the first time in the brunet’s presence. “Why are you doing this? I am the bad guy here…”

Inaho released him to lean back, and looked at him with his burgundy and expressionless gaze. Something serious flickered behind his cornea.

“You were precious to the late princess, and I decided I wanted to protect the bond you two had,” Inaho answered. “Since I failed, I want to uphold it in any way I can, and, if you don’t mind, I would like to offer you the same bond you shared with her.”

Slaine shook his head slowly and stared at the brunet with confusion. How delusional was Inaho’s thoughts? How estranged was he from reality to think something outrageously self-sacrificing as that?

‘ _He’s as broken as I am_ ,’ Slaine realized as he stared at him. ‘ _He’s insane with bonds – just like me_.’ There was no doubt the brunet loved and cared deeply about the sleeping cursed princess, who he had no idea was still alive in an inanimate state. ‘ _But why do you want to replace her with yourself_?’

“Inaho…” Slaine said with pleading eyes. The moment Inaho heard Slaine call him by his name, a smile answered the blond. The Versian vassal was briefly caught by the smile and lost his thought, before he blinked and collected his mind to say: “There is no need for you to do this.”

“But there is,” the brunet answered and looked sincere. He reached behind Slaine’s back and untied his hands, and then threaded the chain of the talisman around the blond’s neck to lock the chain, and carefully placed the talisman on Slaine’s chest where he let it hang. “Will you let me uphold her bond to you?”

The weight of the talisman was familiar around the young man’s neck, and Slaine raised his now free hands to take a hold of the talisman and play with it with his fingertips. The shape was nostalgic; his fingertips still remembered it even after such a long time.

“I…” Slaine said and looked up at the brunet. “You shouldn’t-“

“She loved you, didn’t she?” Inaho asked and Slaine blinked a couple of times from the straight forward question, before he answered quietly:

“She did… Why?”

He watched Inaho move closer with his gaze locked onto Slaine’s, until he was right in front of the other. Slaine pushed the back of his head against the tree trunk behind him to distance himself as much as possible from the other, while staring at him with confusion and nervousness, and the brunet’s breaths finally landed on his lips as they whispered:

“Then I will love you, too.”

Helplessly, Slaine felt Inaho’s lips cover his and the warmth shot a shiver through him. The Versian vassal felt as though he should tell the brunet the truth to stop him from making his mind further delusional, but his resistance was not wholehearted; he tried to push him away with his hands on the brunet’s shoulders but there was no strength behind them. Inaho, too, was too strong for him and used that to his advantage to keep their lips sealed against each other’s, and slowly – against his reasoning – Slaine’s thoughts stilled from the heat that was exchanged between them.

The warmth and smell from the other consumed him once again and Slaine fell into a trance. The soft lips were softer than he had expected – softer than Lemrina’s – and it felt pleasant in an awkward way. Inaho’s hands reached up to his cheeks again and it felt as if Slaine’s bones were melting and his flesh was set aflame.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, Slaine knew Inaho had misunderstood something, but there was no way for him to tell him that until the brunet decided to release him. In the forefront of Slaine’s mind, however, a selfish thought twisted and turned his reasoning into a jumbled mess. As he realized this, he woke up from the trance with a start and opened his eyes, and began struggling in the other’s little embrace.

“I-Inaho-!” Slaine exclaimed as he managed to get his lips free and pushed a knee against Inaho’s chest. “This is not how she loved me!” Inaho accepted Slaine’s push and leaned back to stare at him with confusion showing on his face. Slaine understood the brunet had gotten the wrong idea, and the blond felt relieved he had finally been freed from the briefly intoxicating lure of another human’s warmth. “I and Asseylum were never lovers, nor do we share such emotions,” the blond then said and took a deep breath to calm his fiery body, and explained: “I do not know where you got the wrong idea, but we were family and not lovers.”

“Family?” Inaho asked and pulled back to sit down and look at the Versian vassal.

“Yes…” Slaine mumbled and felt dizzy from what had just happened. “I cannot explain it really, but she saved me when I was a child and she took care of me. That was all there was to it.”

‘ _And now it’s my turn to save her_ ,’ the blond thought and watched Inaho understand what he had done.

“I’m sorry,” the brunet said, this time with a hesitating tone. “She told me she loved you, but perhaps I misunderstood in what way.”

Slaine slowly nodded to confirm that was the case, and then turned his glare away and coiled his arms around him to hold himself together.

‘ _I can’t be swayed like this by someone’s warmth…_ ’

†††

Slaine’s revelation had completely made the brunet feel confused, and his thoughts fell into pieces along with his emotions. Inaho had decided he would love the other and, now that he did, he had learned he had loved Slaine the wrong way. What Slaine had told him seemed to be a relationship to Seylum much like the one Inaho shared with Yuki, and it was nothing the brunet had been considering before. Then again, he had himself to blame; Seylum had not told him a lie, nor had she tried to mislead him. Inaho had simply jumped to the conclusion that Seylum and Slaine had had an undeveloped romantic relationship.

‘ _Then what do I do with these feelings I have built up?_ ’ the brunet wondered and raised his hand to his chest. His heart had been beating wildly from sharing a kiss with the blond, and it still was racing in his ribcage.

“I have no idea what she told you,” he heard Slaine say quietly while hanging his head, hiding his face behind his bangs. “But this is not something she would have done, nor would I have let her. She is too pure for me to touch her like that.”

So, that was how it was. Slaine and Seylum shared something precious; something similar to what Inaho and Yuki had, but still quite different and more profound.

“Is she an angel to you?” Inaho asked and looked at the blond, who raised his face to look at him with surprise. “You talk about her as if she’s divine.”

Slaine lowered his gaze for a moment to think of what Inaho had said, and then looked up at the brunet again after finding his answer, and nodded. The young man stayed silent, and Inaho interpreted his quietude as having given up on running away. Slaine was not resisting him, nor was he trying to run away. He did not even bother trying to provoke him anymore.

‘ _It must be crazy out there with the cursed creatures; you became obedient quite quickly after feeling my warmth and caresses_.’

“I’m sorry,” the brunet said quietly.

Slaine did not answer; he had curled up while leaning against the trunk of the tree behind him and hidden his face against his knees. He looked nothing like a vassal or a lord; there was no pride and no honor in his position.

‘ _Is he grieving?_ ’ Inaho wondered.

“Once morning comes, you will be taken to the UN and be presented as a deserter; a blood sacrifice who has run away from Vers. Does that sound all right?” the brunet asked and watched Slaine while waiting for an answer. No words came back to him.

Unexpectedly, when Inaho was to pick up the backpack, he heard a quiet voice from where Slaine had buried his face against his knees:

“Princess Asseylum…” The brunet immediately looked up at him. “She is still alive…” With those words, Inaho froze and stared at him with utter shock. What was Slaine saying? Seylum had been dead for nineteen months. “I am the only one standing between her and the cursed. If you take me away from her, she will immediately be killed,” the Versian vassal said and hugged his knees tighter.

Inaho had a hard time believing him at first, but once the shock subsided he began wondering if the blond was telling the truth, considering how much of a toll this situation seemed to take on him. Was it because it was true that Slaine could not agree with Inaho’s demands to take him to the UN? The brunet had been sure the young man had wanted to come with him but had been held back by something, anchoring him to Vers.

Now, it seemed as if the tables had turned completely, and Inaho was unsure of what to do.

“I thought she passed away during the fire,” Inaho said carefully, and Slaine shook his head, rubbing his blond bangs against his knees like a grieving child.

“No…” the blond young man answered. “I refused to believe she had passed away from something like that since she was not supposed to die. It turned out as long as the corpse is still somewhat intact, a vampire can be nursed back to life with plenty of blood,” Slaine explained. “I, however, am the only one sacrificing blood to her, but I cannot offer her all the blood she needs. Due to that, she is asleep and has not woken up during this entire time.”

It baffled the brunet to hear more confusing things he had not expected. Somehow, he thought Slaine was being truthful since Inaho felt that he knew the young man well enough from listening to Seylum reminiscence about her precious Slaine.

‘ _He wouldn’t lie about something like this, would he?_ ’ Inaho thought.

“Tell me,” he said and watched Slaine look up at him with an exhausted expression. The blond looked as if he had not slept or rested properly for weeks. It must have been difficult to hide all that exhaustion. “What is going on out there?”

“If you care about her, you have to let me go back,” the blond vassal said rather tiredly instead of answering Inaho’s question. “If you do anything with this information that might hurt her, I will hunt you down,” he then warned him with a threat saturated with sincerity.

Inaho unwillingly understood he had to accept Slaine’s demand and let him go back to the ship he had come from – where Seylum lay asleep. It even angered the brunet to admit to something like that, since he had come to save Slaine and not toss him to the blood-thirsty undead a second time. For nineteen months he had been thinking about it. For nineteen months he had waited for the moment that allowed him to save Seylum’s precious boy, and for all that time he had built up feeling toward the other – feelings he had believed was Seylum’s, but was now slowly becoming his own.

‘ _I love him_ ,’ Inaho helplessly thought. ‘ _Not the way Seylum apparently does. Since these emotions aren’t hers anymore, does that mean they are mine now?_ ’

“If you love her, you should let me go,” Slaine said and stared at him with uncertainty billowing in his eyes along with sadness.

“But I don’t love her like that. I cared about her mainly because of you,” Inaho said and Slaine’s eyes widened.

“What are you saying?” the blond asked breathlessly and stared at him without blinking.

“She told me about you, and that captivated me,” Inaho said and moved closer, raising his hands to warm the young man’s neck again. Instantly, the blond’s expression softened and his body relaxed again. “The Slaine she spoke about and cared about… I wanted to care for him, too.”

Slaine closed his eyes and raised his hands to take a hold of Inaho’s wrists.

“Regretfully, I have to inform you that I have no need for you caring about me,” he said quietly and looked up at Inaho. “There is nothing you can offer me that I find interest in.”

“Not even my warmth?” Inaho asked and brushed Slaine’s cheek with his thumb to remind him about him holding him. “I will give all of it to you if you just ask.”

“You are insane,” Slaine whispered while giving in to the brunet’s touch. It was clear the blond was interested in Inaho’s heat, even if it was only his heat and nothing more.

“So are you,” the brunet answered and watched Slaine sigh deeply:

“I am…” the Versian vassal admitted and then shook his head and pulled Inaho’s hands away with great reluctance. He stood up from the sand to look at the brunet with a frown on his tired face. “I have to go back. I have no time for your games, Orange.”

“You will go back there to die for her?” Inaho asked and stood up as well, watching as Slaine walked toward the boat. “What would she be thinking if she knew this?”

The blond raised his hand onto the boat’s hull and looked at Inaho, waiting for him.

“It matters not what she would think,” the young man admitted, letting the brunet know he was not interested in Seylum’s thoughts about the matter since the blond had become selfish about her. “I live for as long as she lives; I am not dying for her. If I were to die, it would be with her,” Slaine said and patted the hull of the boat. “Will you help me get the boat into the water? I cannot do that myself,” the young man requested quietly.

In other words, if Inaho took him away from Seylum, Slaine would commit suicide the moment he believed the cursed and former princess was dead. It put Inaho in a difficult position as well, since he did not want Slaine to run away or die. It was difficult and bothersome to be this attached to something – especially when it was someone else who also had a free will.

“If I do, will we become enemies again?” Inaho asked, hoping that would not be the case.

“Once this boat is pushed back into the water, if you get in my way, I will see you as my enemy,” the blond vassal answered quietly. There was no anger in his tone.

Despite that, Inaho had to try:

“There’s nothing else we can do? We can’t get her off of that ship?”

“And give her to the UN?” Slaine scoffed. Bat was flickering in his eyes again, behaving like a guard dog the moment UN and Seylum was mentioned in the same sentence. “She has no value in this war anymore but to keep me in a leash and do what my lord tells me to do. If she is handed over to the UN, who knows what will be done to her.”

“Is it be better to play by their rules? The world is burning because-“ Inaho began, but Bat interrupted him:

“Do you think I care?!” Bat growled out loud and pierced his gaze into the brunet. “I have no dreams nor do I have any hope. I pay no heed to what is happening in the world and why, since it has already been trampled to the ground. Asseylum’s precious wish is destroyed!”

“And you will continue her enemy’s legacy by trampling her dream even more with whatever your master has planned for you?” Inaho wondered.

“I do whatever I need to in order to save her!” Bat barked. “Take the boat out!”

So, that was it. Slaine was being delusional enough his beloved’s wish did not matter anymore. It was perverse in nature since all he wanted to do was to keep her as his own doll without realizing it himself. As things were now, Inaho had no choice to let Slaine run back to that destructive place. It was less dangerous right now to let him escape than take him to the UN, since he did not seem to be in any kind of danger on board the enemy ships due to him carrying some kind of important role. If Seylum would die if he did not return, Slaine would go with her. That was how delusional and unstable he was.

“You’re cruel toward her,” Inaho decided to simply say, and walked up to the bow of the boat and pushed it back toward the water. “I will not see you as my enemy, but I will fight you if you threaten those I care about.”

Bat stared at him somewhat surprised that Inaho gave in.

“You’re letting me go?” Slaine asked baffled and followed Inaho to the water.

“I don’t want you to die,” Inaho said candidly and looked at the young vassal. “If I take you with me, I know you will make sure to end your own life once you believe your princess is dead. I have no choice but to keep fighting you while trying to get her out of that ship, and by that save you as well.”

“You really are insane,” Slaine said quietly.

“I am,” the brunet answered and then let go of the boat to walk over to the blond and look at him sincerely.

He folded his hands in front of himself to allow Slaine using him like a step and heave the blond on board. Slaine hesitated and stared at him for a short moment, but then accepted Inaho’s offer. With a smooth motion, he heaved Slaine up on board the boat, and walked up to the bow to push it into the sea.

The Versian vassal looked at the brunet with gratitude as the boat was caught by the waves and pulled out to the sea, and Slaine’s gentle voice said:

“Thank you.”

Inaho nodded and squeezed his hands into fists at his sides, and then said:

“I have decided I will come for both of you in the future to save you – one way or another.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to rewrite this over and over again until it ended up like this. It was such a mess in the beginning because the boys are so erratic and warped, but I hope it makes sense now. (@____@)


	23. Toll for the Brave 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for being a little late. My trusted laptop since 9 years crashed last week, and I was away on a convention this weekend, so it took a little while to rewrite this chapter, since the previous disappeared along with the laptop crashing. *learned my lesson to save files on multiple storage devices while I was shedding a tear to grieve for my lost trusted friend (and shamelessly bought a new laptop)* But here the chapter is!

Steps echoed in the grandiose corridor against the beautifully patterned wooden floor. The pattern was intricate and designed with different kind of wood types. The walls were covered with beautiful and old paintings that were hundreds of years old, all of them framed with golden frames. The ceiling towering over the lone figures that occupied the corridor was far above their heads and was covered with paintings as well and had concave sections resembling the ceiling of old churches. Tall windows were covered by thick and heavy curtains to block the sun from entering the structure, and beautiful lanterns guided the two figures’ way.

The corridor, belonging to the grand royal palace in Vers, was – along with the entire structure – decorated and designed with a baroque, rococo and neoclassical style combined. It was a breathtaking sight to just see the palace on photographs, but it was fully spectacular when experiencing it in person.

The steps walked calmly, as if they belonged to someone who had returned home after a long journey, and had a hint of bittersweet nostalgia. Two lonely beings occupied the vacant corridor, and the emptiness of others made it look like as though they had walked lost in the palace. Luckily, the one whose steps echoed against the wooden floor knew where he was, and he pushed the girl sitting in the wheelchair in front of him to show her the corridors she had not gotten familiar with yet.

“To think all of this will be ours in the future,” a husky but sad voice said quietly; the walls were known for whispering secrets to those who were not supposed to hear due to their echoing nature, which made it crucial to speak with a low tone of voice if secrets were to be shared.

‘ _This place is so ridiculous_ ,’ the blond vassal thought as he pushed the wheelchair in front of him, on which a proud-looking lady – his future fiancée – sat with her hands neatly resting in her lap.

“It is quite a marvelous structure, my princess,” Slaine said with a smile, trying to sound optimistic despite his thoughts about the place betrayed his tone of voice:

‘ _And horribly pompous…_ ’

“It is,” Lemrina answered. Slaine could not see her expression, but he could imagine she wore a disgusted frown on her beautiful countenance as she continued with a poisonous voice: “I wish I could tear it all down. It is an eyesore.”

Slaine chuckled.

“An eyesore, Your Highness? Now, why would you say that?” he asked and turned around a corner. They were heading toward their room in the palace, without the cursed princess knowing about it since the young man had kept it a secret and deliberately taken a detour to confuse the cursed girl.

“Do you not think so, Sir Troyard?” the cursed princess asked. “It is so huge and barren – only there to serve as a way to show the people how oppressed they are by those who are rich.”

“Now, now, my princess,” Slaine said and looked around the corridor to make sure no one was around, listening to their conversation. “While I do agree this palace is pompous, I believe our nation has to have something to be proud of as well. The palace has hundreds of years of history and is an important symbol for Vers.”

Lemrina looked over her shoulder – her lustrous hair brushing over her shoulder as she turned to smile mischievously at the young man.

“You hate it. Admit it, Sir Troyard,” she said quietly, and Slaine sighed as he found his optimism defeated by her words that revealed his true thoughts.

“I do. You sure know me well, my princess,” he said and Lemrina turned back around with a satisfied smile on her lips, and continued:

“You are from a humble mindset and not as pompous as those who built this palace. This place makes me feel so estranged, as if I do not belong here. I am used to much more humble surroundings and have difficulties to adjust to this palace.”

Slaine nodded by reflex even though he knew she could not see him.

“It makes you feel like an outsider and confuses you with questions of how to act and behave, what words to use and where you are allowed to go and not,” he said to fill in with her remark while speaking from his own experiences as a child who had once walked down these same corridors.

Lemrina looked over her shoulder again – this time with a soft smile and gentle gaze.

“We are too similar at times,” she purred quietly to let Slaine know she could relate to his experience.

“We mostly are,” Slaine corrected her. “Our hearts bleed in similar ways and our eyes stare at the same horizon.”

“While the winds sail us closer to that bloodied horizon, watching us wherever they take us,” the cursed princess said quietly. “Slaine,” she then said and signed for him to stop by holding up her hand. Slaine obeyed. He stopped and then walked around her to kneel before her and wait for her to state the thoughts she seemingly wished to share. “How long will we stay in this place?” she then asked quietly as he met her nervous gaze. “I like it better out at sea than here.”

Slaine smiled with a slight smile to comfort her nervousness and reached a hand to her cheek, caressing it gently and lovingly.

“Hold out for two days more, my princess,” he answered soothingly. “The blood banks on board Dioscuria are still being refilled and I am still to pass my first test as a future Versian commander.”

Lemrina sighed and looked hopelessly around the palace corridor with a sorrowful expression, and said:

“Once we are married, we shall be locked away in this place for a long time.” Her voice was heavy with fright and worry; she clearly disliked the palace. “The sea is my home. Not a cold palace like this. There is something unpleasant in the walls here that makes my skin crawl.”

Slaine could agree with her. This palace had always been uncomfortable since the atmosphere was filled with an oppressive darkness. This place had a history of death and curses, which had seeped into the walls like unrested ghosts. It felt more of a beautiful tomb than a palace, and the only time Slaine had felt safe and welcome in these corridors had been when he had had company by his beloved Asseylum.

“It is admirable how you always search for the small adventures in life, Your Highness,” Slaine said and lowered his hand from her cheek and let it rest on top of the cold undead hands in her lap. “I believe you have a strong connection to the sea, since I heard Saazbaum found you in a coastal city in Finland, where your mother hid you away from Gilzeria.”

Lemrina’s sorrowful expression turned into troubled, as if she sensed anger welling up inside her.

“My father was nothing but a scoundrel,” she said with a whisper. “My mother – a simple maid at a hotel where my father stayed when he was still human – was sure he would try to kill me to protect his older daughter’s right to the throne when he became the emperor of Vers, since I was a bastard child. I heard my sister’s mother was from a forgotten royal lineage from Russia.”

Lemrina looked intently at Slaine as if she tried to search for a reaction in him for having spoken about his beloved Asseylum, but Slaine held his calm. He had had enough of her games where she poked that sore spot to wallow in his misery simply because she was jealous and wished to punish him for it. Slaine had come to the conclusion it was not his fault she was jealous and, therefore, he would not play along according to her whims.

“Do you miss your mother?” Slaine asked instead, and Lemrina stared at him with surprise of hearing such a simplistic but profound question, and then averted her eyes, saying:

“No. I cannot remember her since she died so long ago.” She made a pause to sigh and shake her head. “The endless time a cursed has, has a tendency to do that to memories; it fades them away. People you love and lose will slowly disappear from your memory. You forget how they sounded like, how they smelled – you even forget their faces and how their presence felt. It is as if they were never there, but your reason knows they were very much real.”

“It sounds lonely and confusing, my princess,” Slaine said soothingly and watched her eyes begin tearing up.

“It is,” Lemrina whispered and the first tear rolled down her cheek. She looked surprised and quickly wiped it away while gritting her teeth to stop more tears from rolling down her cheeks.

“But, right now, it seems to me that you miss her a lot,” Slaine said and watched her fail with her brave attempt to look strong. He wiped the second tear away with gentle fingers. “I miss my father as well,” he then whispered.

‘ _And I miss her…_ ’ he thought and saw Asseylum’s bright smile in the back of his mind.

He hoped he would never forget about her smile since that was his sole source for strength and motivation. He watched it with his heart growing warm and he nearly felt like smiling out of love. Then, as he had watched the memory play for a while to soothe his broken heart, a different smile began waxing in his mind. It grew and billowed while slowly replacing the sleeping cursed princess’s smile with a shadow – coaxing excitement to be born – before it disappeared like smoke dispersing and the excited emotion was left unfinished.

‘ _Again…_ ’

The young man’s mind had done this frequently for the past month they had been sailing back from Borneo toward the cursed nation of Vers, but he had not had a moment to figure out who that shadowy smile belonged to. Each time it emerged, Slaine believed he recognized it and got excited and felt a hint of comfort. Then – as if he forgot about it as soon as he remembered it – it disappeared and left a confused sensation lingering in his mind for a while.

This time, he felt confused again. He had a connection based on excitement and gentleness to that smile, and he was curious what kind of conditioning he had been subjected to in order to react like that to that specific smile. By whom had he been conditioned? It felt absurd and strange, since no one made him feel ridiculously excited except Asseylum, and he could not remember anyone smiling at him like that except those he regularly spent time with. To add to the mystery, he could not remember anyone who would give him such a soothing feeling of excitement and comfort but Asseylum.

“Slaine?” Lemrina asked to wake the blond young man from his thought, and Slaine blinked and looked up at her with a start. She stared at him with slight worry. “Are you all right?”

Ah. He had fallen into thought again in front of the cursed princess, who had been watching him. Ever since he had met Orange on the shore of Malaysia, he had been thinking on a lot of things: His role in life. His existence. What he was worth according to others and himself. He even wondered what his humanity was and why Asseylum had been so keen to protect it.

His meeting with Orange had been the most awkward meeting Slaine had ever had with anyone; the brunet was difficult to read and follow. At times he was so logical Slaine completely missed the point of what the other said and did, and at times he was so beyond anything Slaine had encountered before that it was impossible to follow the other’s trail of thought.

The phantom sensation of Orange’s warmth still lingered on the vassal’s cheeks, neck and lips and he desperately hungered for more. It was unbearable to know he would live in a world where no one with a warm hand would touch him, not even Harklight – who always kept his distance to show Slaine the respect the dark-haired young man thought he deserved.

The thoughts Orange had put in his mind still twisted and turned like chaotic snakes in his brain, and he could not stop thinking about their conversation. Orange had – after nineteen months – changed his mind about taking Slaine along with him, and had come back to present him to the UN as an escapee running from Vers who asked for a sanctuary. The brunet had said he cared for the blond – enough to care about Asseylum because Orange knew Slaine loved her beyond anything in this world.

Ever since that meeting, everything had been in disarray since he had not expected to be so overcome by the warmth the other had offered him. His skin was still desperately begging for another warm and gentle touch, and that was all he could think about at times. He felt like a child that had gotten a piece of candy, and immediately wanted more.

‘ _Orange has messed up my mind_ ,’ he thought and gritted his teeth. ‘ _All I can think about is human warmth…_ ’

Slaine shook his head and smiled while looking up at the cursed princess in front of him while holding her hands in a gentle squeeze.

“I feel fine, Your Highness,” he answered kindly. “Forgive me for disappearing into thought again.”

“You have done that quite a lot, lately. Are you sure you feel fine?” the cursed princess pried with kindness. “You can entrust whatever you are thinking to me – you know that.”

Slaine nodded and tilted his head a little to answer with a warm but wry smile.

“Her Highness is very kind, but worry not. Sometimes I have these unfinished thoughts emerging out of nowhere, but they are completely harmless; I simply have plenty to think about nowadays,” he answered candidly, but deliberately left out the reason to his recent state of thinking; no one knew what had happened on the shore of Malaysia, and Slaine would not let anyone know either.

“Could it be because you are to be cursed soo-?“ Lemrina began with genuine worry, but Slaine interrupted her as he walked around to the back of the wheelchair and continued showing her down the empty corridor, toward their shared room:

“A little bird whispered in my ear earlier today that there is a gift waiting for my princess in our room,” he said happily. He was so skillfully lying about his frame of mind that he nearly fooled himself as well. “What do you say we go and see what kind of gift it is?”

With that, Lemrina understood he was not in the mood to speak about the fact that Saazbaum was to curse him soon. She accepted his marking to where the line of prying went – no matter the reason – and she stared ahead of her as Slaine showed her down the corridor again. Slaine silently thanked her for her consideration, since the topic was unbearable to speak about.

“What could this gift be?” she asked instead with a semi-happy voice; she was still cautious about his mood, which Slaine found a relief; she had recently accepted his set boundaries between him and her – probably because she was still ashamed of what she had done a month ago.

Slaine leaned closer to her ear, and whispered:

“It is a full set of that Italian paint you like so much, my princess. There is also a new set of charcoal sticks. I asked Harklight to get me some.”

Lemrina immediately turned around to look at him when he stood back up, and her eyes glittered with joy.

“Then, do you mind keeping your promise of letting me paint you onto my canvas?” she asked with a thrilled voice.

Slaine smiled a sorrowful smile, and said:

“Only if you kindly would immortalize my humanity.”

†††

“ _Good morning pollywogs and shellbacks. This is your captain speaking. Three and a half hours ago, we crossed the Equator_ ,” the strong voice of Magbaredge said in the speaker system in the canteen, where Inaho was enjoying a breakfast along with his friends.

People began tiredly applauding and whistling in celebration where they sat next to the tables and ate their breakfast with glum expressions.

The ship on its way toward Australia after having sailed around in the northern part of the Indian Ocean to support the smaller fleets battling with enemies across India and Bay of Bengal. Now, they were on their way to aid the military on Sydney’s coast, where an enemy fleet was causing trouble. The coast of Sydney had become a warzone and UN had sent reinforcements closest to the area to try pivoting the battle’s outcome to the human population’s favor.

“ _Today, since it is a great day for most of you sailors, our headquarters have messaged us just now that the line-crossing ceremony will be held according to tradition, and it will start today and continue tomorrow_ ,” she continued, and the entire canteen exploded with joyful screams of celebration.

People stood up from their seats and threw their hands into the air or playfully fooled around with each other. Some slammed their fists against the tables to make noise and others cheered while sitting down.

Inaho had to cover his sensitive ears; he had not learned how to filter sounds and how to control the intake of loud noise that easily overwhelmed him. Despite he blocked the worst of the sounds from reaching his eardrums by pressing the palm of his hands tightly against his ears, his head still rang from incredible resonance.

“Woah!” Calm exclaimed and got an excited shine into his previously sleepy eyes. He seemed to have woken up completely from the news. “We get to celebrate all day today?!”

“Is it a big thing for a sailor to cross the Equator?” Nina wondered and tilted her head. Her dark blond ponytails rocked gently as she moved.

“It is,” Inko said with rosy cheeks. She seemed to look forward to the celebrations along with the others in the canteen. “It’s an initiation rite to commemorate a sailor’s first crossing of the Equator and functions as a way to build up the morale in the crew.” Nina nodded with understanding, and Inko then looked thoughtful: “I wonder why they didn’t let us know earlier so we could have prepared.”

“I believe it was a question of if it was safe to hold the ceremony or not,” the Inaho said and looked at his friends while he still protected his ears from the loud sounds around them. “We are close to enemy territory after all.”

The others nodded in agreement while wearing happy smiles.

Ever since Inaho had come on board, he had noticed an exhaustion and tension in the ship’s corridors. The crew was tired after many strict months on board the ship. Many of them had no home to return to and had stayed on board Deucalion ever since the war had begun – like Inko, Nina and Calm. Those who had the ship as their home must have been driven to complete exhaustion; staying on board a ship for too long was deteriorating for the mind, and to be dealing with constant tension caused by war must have added more tiredness to their already strained situation.

“Perhaps they thought we all needed a break?” Rayet – who kept them company – suggested. “The crew needs some time for fun activities as well to relax.”

“I can’t wait!” Calm said as he was filled with sudden energy. “Today we – the slimy pollywogs – will become trusty shellbacks; the sons and daughters of Neptune!”

Nina chuckled as Inko rolled her eyes and glared at Calm:

“Why can’t you just sit still?” she said while pouting. “We haven’t gotten any instructions of what to do yet.”

“They probably have to plan it first,” Inaho said to stop Calm from sharing a piece of his mind with the girl; he looked as if he was about to bark back at her. “It seems the approval came just a moment ago.”

Each time a ship crossed the Equator, it was said that the god of the sea – King Neptune – came on board to exercise authority over his domain and judge if the pollywogs – those who crossed the Equator for the first time – were solely posers who had not paid homage to the god and king of the sea, or if they were worthy to become trusted sailors. It was originally a western tradition and was said to be around four hundred years old.

Said and done. The ship was filled with festivities to celebrate the crossing of Equator within just an hour after the announcement, and everyone had prepared themselves according to tradition. The pollywogs were all dressed in torn t-shirts and sweaters, while those who had crossed the line before or were of high rank – shellbacks – were dressed in elaborate costumes, and had the role of a member in King Neptune’s court, which consisted of King Neptune himself, his queen, Davy Jones, the royal baby and other dignitaries.

The first day of the ceremony was filled with festivities in the hangar bay, where a stage had been set up. The King Neptune’s court had come for the festivities; Captain Magbaredge had the role of Neptune, her executive officer had the role of Neptune’s queen, and the other officers had the role of Davy Jones and others. They all sat next to each other on the first row of seats in front of the stage, and the first patch of the crew for the day was sitting behind them to watch the talent show, in which pollywogs were to entertain the court and shellbacks watching them.

Inaho sat with Nina and Rayet in the crowd and watched as Calm and Inko – together with a couple of other pollywogs – had made something that resembled clothes out of black plastic bags, and danced a horribly last-minute choreographed dance to an old bubblegum pop-song about sailors. The crowd was laughing as Calm stumbled around in a black plastic bag dress and high heels to play a woman who was jealous of a man – played by Inko dressed in a tuxedo made with the plastic bags and duct tape – that flirted around with other women, played by other pollywogs.

Nina and Rayet laughed along with the crowd and Inaho could not help himself from smiling as he watched his friends have a fun time. It was precious to watch them smile and laugh. When Inaho had come on board the ship after he had spent months in the research facility, he had noticed his friends did not smile as much as they used to. It had been a saddening sight and realization, and he felt relieved now that they were enjoying themselves to such degree that they laughed until tears sprung to their eyes.

‘ _You all needed this_ ,’ he thought and wondered if he should do something out of the ordinary as well and join in with the festivities.

“Nina,” he said, and the western girl looked at him after drying her teary eyes. “There’s a dance later on for us pollywogs. Do you mind being my lady?”

Nina stared at him with surprise, but then got an excited shine in her eyes, and she nodded when exclaiming:

“I would love to!”

†††

“Is this how you meant?” Slaine asked after he had placed his hands in his lap according to Lemrina’s instructions.

He was sitting in an antique rosewood baroque chair with cushions of royal-red velvet, with his legs crossed and shoulders relaxed. Beneath the chair, a large oriental carpet with dulled dark colors stretched out in all directions, and Harklight and Eddelrittuo had hung up red and golden curtains on the wall behind him to the right to give the scene depth, while the other side of the wall was barren; the cursed princess wanted to have the beautiful wallpaper showing in a corner of the painting she was to paint.

Lemrina studied Slaine’s posture just for a little while before she decided it was not entirely the way she wanted it. While she was thinking, she raised the still clean paintbrush to her cheek and pressed her lips together. She had a habit of tapping the tip of the brush’s handle against her cheek while concentrating on painting, and Slaine enjoyed watching her do such a personal and characteristic thing; it was a behavior he had not seen in anyone else, and he found it pleasant to watch since he saw a perk of Lemrina’s he normally never saw.

“Hm…” she murmured and pressed the brush carefully against her cheek as she stopped tapping with it. “Try leaning against the arm support with your elbow. I think you should look as natural as possible; I do not want to paint you as an expressionless knight with a straight back and serious expression; your uniform gives the scenery enough seriousness. If I am to capture your humanity, you should look as natural as possible and be yourself.”

Slaine adjusted his position and leaned with his elbow against the armrest as instructed and smiled as he watched Lemrina study him once again.

“As natural as possible?” he asked amused. “You ask the impossible, my princess. I have not entirely been myself ever since I stepped into this palace for the first time as a child.”

Lemrina shook her head as she tilted it while still studying him. She let her eyes wander over him from top to bottom a couple of times before she said somewhat absentmindedly:

“That is not entirely true.” She tilted her head to the other side and began tapping the brush against her cheek again. “Sometimes I get the feeling you forget to carry your mask when being around me. I am sure I have seen the natural you a couple of times.” She put the paintbrush between her teeth and adjusted the stance for the canvas before her, and then frowned as she turned to look at him again, thinking. After a while, she removed the brush from her mouth to say: “Relax your body against the armrest, lean somewhat toward me, and tell me about your fondest memory of your father.”

Slaine raised his eyebrows and blinked a couple of times, before he ransacked his mind for a memory he could think of as warm and tender. As he found it, he smiled with gentle joy.

“My father used to take me out on picnics,” he said and Lemrina watched him for a short moment before she began sketching on the canvas with one of the brand new charcoal sticks Slaine had gifted to her. “We traveled a lot due to his scientific research about the curse, which gave us the opportunity to have picnics in the most marvelous places on Earth.”

“Slaine, do you wear the talisman?” Lemrina said and Slaine’s words were caught in his throat as she abruptly interrupted him, and nodded. Ever since Orange had returned it to him, Slaine had kept it around his neck day and night. “Please, do not move. You are perfect like that. Eddelrittuo. Can you help Slaine take out his father’s talisman from inside the uniform?”

Eddelrittuo did as ordered and excused herself as she unbuttoned one button on Slaine’s uniform in order to reach the talisman hiding beneath the fabric. As she found it and buttoned the uniform again, Lemrina instructed her on how to place the talisman on his chest.

“Much better…” Lemrina murmured and picked up the charcoal stick to continue sketching. “Please continue, Slaine.”

Slaine took a deep breath to collect his thoughts and then continued telling her how his father was bad at making picnic food. The bread slices were always cut unevenly. Some slices were thick while others were thin, and some had one thick and one thin side. The jam was overflowing each time the little Slaine took a bite and the sandwiches were sometimes too big for the child to bite, but, despite that, they were the tastiest sandwiches he had ever eaten in his life.

The vassal proceeded with telling her about the different countries where he and his father had had picnics and what sceneries they had been looking at. The backdrops were always amazing and baffling, but the little Slaine had not understood how special the places were due to his young age. He had simply been happy to spend time with his busy father and eat the messy sandwiches his father had made for them both.

Lemrina sketched quickly with practiced hands. The scratching sound of the charcoal stick against canvas was amplified by the thin membrane stretched over the frame, and it tickled Slaine’s ears. She looked professional and peered at him, always from the left side of the canvas, while sketching and listening to Slaine’s story.

It was an intimate atmosphere in the room; far more intimate than Slaine could have ever imagined. It was so tender and calm the young man felt himself unwind completely. He forgot his manners after a while and began speaking with relaxed everyday language and laughed together with Lemrina and the servants in the room. Lemrina had to remind him to sit still now and then as he forgot he should not make hand gestures or use any body language, but mostly she listened with a smile on her lips that reached all the way to her eyes.

For the first time, Slaine realized he could genuinely feel he had a connection with the cursed princess. This connection was on a mutual level since neither of them was taking out their frustration on each other. Before this moment, they had been connected by their similarities and oppressive fates, but now, they met in the middle like close friends. They were nothing but two beings spending enjoyable time together without trying to suffocate the other with desperate emotions, and he found himself hope this atmosphere would withstand whatever came their way in the near future.

She enjoyed him like this, and he enjoyed her. Despite their struggles and disagreements, they were dear friends like this. Whenever their hearts took a break from aching, and each time politics and scheming was forgotten, they were nothing but simple individuals. Now, Slaine saw her simplistic state for the first time in its raw form.

‘ _I take pleasure in your company like this_ ,’ he thought as he watched Lemrina purse her lips while gently scraping the charcoal stick over the canvas to finish off the sketch on which she would apply paint. She stopped for a while and tapped the charcoal stick against her cheek, unaware she was leaving dark and dusty marks on her skin. Slaine chuckled. ‘ _Tomorrow, I will go through my first test to become a commander and I’m another day closer to being cursed. How will our relationship change after that? What will happen to us?_ ’

Something gloomy came over him. It felt like a heavy bookcase had tipped over and dropped all its heavy books on the floor that he had to pick up. The books told tales of worry, fear, desperate hope and wishful thinking. The impending future made itself reminded and he lost the enjoyable feeling for a moment. Lemrina seemed to quickly notice as she looked at him with a frown and said:

“Slaine. Would you kindly continue telling me about the picnics with your father? You seem to have forgotten where your mind should be right now.”

Slaine closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and then released it and looked up at her.

“Forgive me, my princess,” he said and searched for another tender memory with his father. As he found it, he smiled again, but this time with a forced smile. “My father was really clumsy. Sometimes he would forget to bring drinks and we had to go on trips just to find a store where we could buy something tasty to drink while going out on a picnic,” he then said, and Lemrina continued sketching with a small shine in her eyes.

†††

He stood further away, watching his friends who were dressed in ripped apart shirts with random doodles on them while being busy with screaming and laughing as an officer drenched them in cold water with the fire hose. It was the second day of the ceremony, and his friends were lying down on the deck, forced to do physical endurance exercises to please King Neptune and prove they were trusted sailors. Inko and Calm were competing with how many pushups they could make among the rest of the pollywogs, while Nina was lying on the deck next to them, gasping for air after she had given up a long time ago.

The brunet was about to start wondering where Rayet was when a bucket of cold water washed over him, soaking him to the bone. Surprised from the sudden attack, he gasped out loud and looked up to his left where a laugh came from.

“Aren’t you going to participate?” the red-haired girl asked with a teasing grin on her lips and laughed. She was holding a black bucket – the same bucket which had been emptied over Inaho’s head a second earlier. “You didn’t hear me coming.”

“It’s loud in here,” the brunet said as an excuse. “And you came from my left; I don’t have eyesight on that side.”

Rayet raised her eyebrow with a sneer while maintaining her friendly smile.

“An enemy wouldn’t care about that,” she scolded. “They would love to attack you from your left if they knew about your weakness.” Inaho had to agree she was right about it; even if Deucalion was a UN ship, there could be a possibility that an enemy would sneak on board, and it was dangerous for anyone to relax too much in these waters. “You have to learn to be aware of your surroundings by listening to it,” Rayet then said and skipped up onto a wooden cargo box to look at their friends being drenched with cold water from the firehoses.

Inaho shook his head slightly to shake the excess water off and then pulled the wet bangs back away from his face. His clothes were soaked and his feet bathed in the water stuck in his shoes.

“The lesson has been learned,” he said curtly and looked at his wet clothes. “I still haven’t gotten used to all my enhanced senses. I have a lot to learn still.”

Rayet turned her attention to him with surprise and tilted her head.

“Didn’t they train you at the facility?” she asked and looked as the brunet as he nodded.

“They did,” he answered and felt the water grow cold. “But I’m not used to all the new sounds around me. My brain has to be trained in how to filter away all the unnecessary noises so I can concentrate on attention.”

A shiver ran through him. Despite the weather was hot, the wet clothes made him freeze as a breeze from the sea swept through the open cargo hold doors.

“Well, what about joining your friends today as well?” she asked. “You were having fun with us yesterday evening on the ridiculous dance we had.” Then she grinned teasingly while staring at Inaho, and chuckled: “I never thought you – the cold fish Inaho Kaizuka – would willingly partake in a waltz with a girl covered with slime. I didn’t even know you could dance waltz.”

“I was covered with slime as well, and I thought I should try involving myself in activities that are meant to help the participants relax,” he answered objectively. “I figured if one person in the crowd is serious and won’t partake, it makes the others somewhat nervous, which might drag the enjoyment down. And if I partake in the pollywog tests, my body might take unnecessary damage. The curse is eating away at me whenever I exert my body.”

Rayet frowned and turned to look at the crowd crawling on the deck while barking like dogs under an officer’s command. Calm and Inko were still at it, trying to win over the other by barking the loudest. They seemed to have decided to make a contest out of everything.

“Since the curse uses oxygen as power for the body, you need excessive oxygen supply when you use your abilities for a longer time than a couple of minutes, right?” she asked and Inaho nodded.

“Yes. Otherwise I might suffocate from the inside since my body won’t get enough oxygen. Then again, I have to be careful with the oxygen supply as well, since I risk getting oxygen toxicity if using more oxygen than I actually need.”

“That sounds difficult. Then I can understand why you won’t participate in the ceremony,” the cursed girl said with a worried frown.

“Looking at them like this makes me happy for them, since they are enjoying a little time off from the responsibilities a war implies on those who fight,” Inaho said as he watched Inko push Calm out of her way. “They are children again.”

“Yeah…” Rayet sighed and smiled slightly while looking at what Inaho watched.

Inaho thought for a while of his condition. It was true he had to save his body for as long as possible and let it rest, but he also had to admit he needed to use it and learn more about his abilities if he was to be able to successfully save Slaine and Asseylum. Back at the research facility, he had tested his strength, endurance and the effectiveness of his superhuman senses.

‘ _But I never got the chance to actually fight or use my new body in a real-life situation_ ,’ he thought and watched the pollywogs push through their ridiculous tests. ‘ _This would actually be an opportunity to test out how much I can take_.’

“I have changed my mind,” Inaho suddenly said and Rayet turned to look at him with a questioning look. “I see you later.”

“Where are you going?” Rayet asked as Inaho began walking toward the armory to find a throat microphone and radio headset.

“To exercise,” the brunet answered.

Twenty minutes after that, he heard the captain speak in the speaker system across the entire ship, saying:

“ _Listen up pollywogs! A pirate has boarded the ship. I – King Neptune, the god of the sea – demand all of you to hunt this pirate down. The pollywog that catches the pirate gets to use him as their slave for the rest of the day. The pirate has brown hair, an eye patch over his left eye and goes by the name Inaho Kaizuka. Go forth, slimy pollywogs, and prove to me how sincere you are of becoming my sons and daughters!_ ”

A wild roar of people cheering echoed beneath the deck the boy was standing on. The sound traveled from the hangar beneath him through the ventilation system, and Inaho walked calmly toward the exit out onto flight deck while preparing an escape route in his mind.

†††

The court room was buzzing with nervous, stressed and angry voices. All the remaining thirty five counts and countesses had gathered in the royal court room – either in person or over satellite feed – to discuss the future tactics of the Versian military. The one standing in the middle of the room, behind a podium, was facing them all with a bravely straightened back and had planted his feet to the marble floor with heavy determination. He was the cause for the commotion, but he watched the crowd of counts and countesses argue with each other about the tactic he had put out onto the table without wavering. His master was looking at him with a proud smile and silently waited for the blond young man to take command of the crowd.

“I ask for your attention once again,” Slaine’s strong voice echoed in the microphone on the podium before him. He spoke loudly enough it startled some in the crowd, and the noise in the great hall began to die down. He continued: “I understand my tactic is unsettling, and perhaps it is disturbing for a good reason. However, I believe it would be a great advantage for us to use the stored-away submarines against the human military, since they are aware we are not using them out of fear to sink and go down with the ships.”

The commotion in the grand room had erupted the moment Slaine had asked for the unused submarines to be put to work once again. They had been stored away in docks at military bases across the coastline of Vers ever since the former emperor decided to spare his subordinates the terror of boarding a ship that meant an agonizing death, were it to sink. Terrible reports had apparently been the foundation for that decision, and now, Slaine wanted to abolish that decision and take the submarines into use once more. It was solely his decision; Saazbaum had told him he was allowed to choose a tactic that he would present to the rest of the nation’s noble clans to prove his capability. This was his test, and Slaine had prepared for a long time for this day.

A cursed count with dark blond hair that curved playfully at the tips, as if he had the habit of twisting his hair around his index fingers, stood up and glared at the human young man, and said with an angry but melodic voice:

“You are a mere human. What do you have to fear? If your submarine sinks, you die immediately from the water pressure. We cursed can withstand such forces and we can survive in water since we have no need to breathe. We are the ones who would die a long and painful death!”

It was a cursed count called Marylcian, and he was known to be proud and greatly arrogant in nature. He disliked humans to such degree he nearly wanted to kill all of them were it not for his need for human blood to survive.

Slaine took his angry remark with calm.

“I understand the fright you must go through even thinking the mere thought of being trapped in the cold and dark water on the bottom of the sea, Count Marylcian, but I ask you to be aware that I am not asking you specifically to board a submarine,” Slaine said and watched Marylcian twitch from aggravation. He had not enjoyed what Slaine had said, and the blond had been aware of it. “What I ask for is a crew of volunteers who knows about the risks and a submarine to be added to my future fleet.”

Marylcian drilled his angered glare into Slaine’s and gritted his teeth hard enough the cursed count’s fangs showed in the corner of his lips. Slaine knew Marylcian would not hesitate to bite him if he got the chance, solely out of spite to humiliate the human young man.

“You are not even a commander yet, and you are here to demand us to give you an unethical ship that will function as a torture chamber and death trap for us cursed. That is quite conceited of you, human!” he continued angrily.

Slaine let the cursed count finish speaking since he knew it would look bad if he interrupted him, and to correct Marylcian after he had made a fool of himself would hopefully serve as a way to win some ground with the others. The noble clans were not known for their strong sense of unity; they were more a bunch of rogue nobles rather than a cooperating team, since all had their own military power to play with. They worried more about their conquered territories now that the emperor had died, rather than protecting their motherland.

The reason they were all gathered here was because Lemrina’s rule was to be discussed; she needed the approval from those who ruled Vers at the moment; the noble clans. The clans were supposed to protect the throne and nation, but they were far more interested in arguing amongst themselves rather than discuss what they had been gathered here for.

For Slaine to get permission of using the submarines, he had to get the majority of the noble clans to agree with his request, and was the reason why he stood behind the podium at the moment. The submarines belonged to the nation, not a single noble clan leader, which did not give Saazbaum any kind of authority to grant Slaine his request.

“I did not demand anything, Count Marylcian,” Slaine said calmly and looked at the provoked cursed count who had finished speaking. “I asked for a crew and a submarine for when I do have my own fleet. I will personally take command of the submarine and partake in its first attack to prove my capability as a commander.”

A murmur swept through the court again while Slaine and the cursed count glared at each other. The blond human had the feeling he would be in a long feud with the cursed count, who obviously disliked Slaine for more reasons than for simply being human. Slaine had to stay on guard and keep a watchful eye over his shoulder, since he did not trust the irascible cursed count to stay respectable around him.

“You think highly of yourself, human. What makes you think a cursed crew would answer to your commands?” Marylcian tried again with a venomous tone.

‘ _How many times do you intend to test me?_ ’ Slaine wondered frustrated.

“If they are loyal to our nation, they shall act according to my command,” Slaine answered. “I may be human, but I am a Versian citizen. If I will fight for our nation, I am sure those who are cursed will do the same – even under my command.”

“Your nation?!” Marylcian shamelessly yelled and swung out his cane to point at Slaine. “You do not belong here! I remember when you were a child and hid behind our princess’s skirt whenever something terrifying came your way!”

Slaine stayed calm. If he reacted to the burning words of the cursed count, he would lose face in front of all of the noble clans.

“Is that not what children are supposed to do, Count Marylcian? Sir Troyard is a young man now who has probably faced more terror than you shall ever face, considering he started off as a blood sacrifice,” a cursed countess named Azelein said with a curious grin on her lipstick-covered lips. She had chestnut colored hair that was pulled tightly into a bun behind her head, and her green eyes were fixed on Slaine, peering at him with a studying look. “Let him show what he can do. I choose to vote to Sir Troyard’s advantage. I would like to observe his bravery.”

“This is outrageous, Countess Azelein,” Marylcian exclaimed. “Are you siding with a human?”

“No, Count Marylcian,” the cursed countess said amused. “I am siding with a future commander of ours.”

“I agree with Count Marylcian,” another cursed count said. It was Count Barouhcruz. “He is still a human. We cannot trust him with a dangerous ship like a nuclear submarine. He might try to pivot the war to his kind’s favor.”

“Are you saying he might turn on us and go down with the submarine just to kill some of our crew?” Countess Azelein said amused and scoffed. “That sounds quite senseless, do you not think so?”

“That is exactly what I am saying, Countess,” Barouhcruz said. “I think we have all the right to be wary of him commanding something that carries weapons of mass destruction.”

The argument went out of hand and Slaine felt somewhat lost in what to do. Nervousness was making his knees tremble as he stood before the entire crowd of the elitists that were supposed to fight for their nation but showed little to no interest in cooperating with each other. Some stood behind Slaine while others went against him, but none of them argued with him; they all argued with each other. It was as if he lost their attention, and it aggravated him.

The thirty five cursed clans – all descending from their respective first and second generation masters – showed their true colors in this court. None of them seemed to care about cooperating with each other to further means than simplistic agreements on each other’s opinions, creating useless truths instead of facing the reality of things.

‘ _If they continue like this – being loosely cohesive with each other – Vers might take great damage since no one cooperates to protect the nation. It leaves our borders wide open for the enemies_ ,’ Slaine thought troubled.

It was ridiculous how the noble clans argued with each other, as if this entire war was a matter of who won the most ground. It was worrying the human young man, since they needed more cooperation and unification than this.

As Slaine had stood dumbfounded for a while – busy with watching and listening to the clan leaders argue – Saazbaum got up from his seat and patiently walked over to Slaine with a stiff smile on his lips. The cursed count was not pleased with his fellow clan leaders, and Slaine feared he was also disappointed in him for not being able to take control of the situation and calm the argument down.

To his surprise, Saazbaum but a hand on Slaine’s shoulder and looked at him with a fatherly gaze, and said:

“Not even I would have been able to steer this anywhere productive; you did well. They are all a heap of children fighting about who has built the biggest sandcastle.”

“S-sir,” Slaine quietly said with relief and gratitude that his master did not blame him for the court erupting in childish arguments.

Saazbaum turned to look toward the crowd, still with his hand on Slaine’s shoulder. The cold began seeping through the young man’s uniform and reached his skin, and his hairs stood on end.

“All the clan leaders!” he said in the microphone, but none of the cursed counts or countesses heard him. “In the name of our motherland Vers Empire, I demand you to cease this senseless argument and come to a decision! This behavior is unwarranted and without dignity!”

This time, the attention was slowly turned back toward the podium in the middle of the court room. Barouhcruz was quick to turn his anger toward Saazbaum instead.

“He is nothing but a human dog! If this human were merely your pet and blood sacrifice, it would be tolerable. However, you have appointed him to a knight and want to make a commander out of him. Is that not taking your game too far?”

“Count Barouhcruz. It is not your place to offer opinions regarding my vassals.”

The other cursed count took a step forward and glared at Saazbaum with piercing eyes filled with detestation.

“Perhaps, but him fighting alongside us is another matter entirely! One cannot take to the field of battle with someone who might turn traitor at any moment!” Marylcian argued heatedly.

Slaine felt that he had to say something to protect his own pride instead of allowing Saazbaum to step in between him and the noble clans. He was feeling tired and frustrated about being the target for constant attacks.

“If that is your honest concern, Count Marylcian, then strike me down here where I stand.” The court room went entirely silent with surprise of what the human young man said, and every occupant stared at him with wide eyes. Slaine’s voice became slightly darker as he let his anger a tiny bit of reign, and continued while intently staring at Marylcian: “You are entirely correct. If I go into battle with you, it might very well be me who is attacked from behind.”

It took less than a breath for the cursed count to understand Slaine’s insult and take action. The count stormed down the steps from where he had been seated and raised his cane. For a brief moment, Slaine was anticipating the attack with gratitude, as he quickly gave way for his tired mind that wished for peace now that he found himself cornered. These charades were exhausting him and selfishness swallowed him for a short moment – even briefly forgetting about Asseylum.

However, before he had the chance to recover from the selfishness of wanting to die and emotionally feel anything – terror or regret – Saazbaum took the word and looked at the noble clan leaders with a serious expression, and said with a powerful voice that resounded in the room even without the microphone’s aid:

“Counts and countesses, hear me all of you!” Marylcian halted and stared at the cursed count with a glare. “By the grace of the late emperor and the second princess of Vers-“ He made a pause and raised his wrist to his lips where he cut it open with the sharp tip of a fang. A strong hand took a hold of Slaine’s neck, and the next thing the human knew was blood flowing down his throat. “I name Slaine Troyard my son right here and now.”

Shock took a grip of Slaine’s mind and he froze entirely. All of his warmth poured out of him as he felt the disgusting taste of blood conquering his mouth. It was bitter and sweet, and had a metallic taste to it. It slipped down his throat with ease, much like liquid silk.

“What are you-?!” Marylcian exclaimed but could not find words to finish his sentence.

A shocked murmur and gasps swept through the room.

“All of you here are my witnesses!” Saazbaum continued and released Slaine from his grip. The human young man staggered back with shock and raised a trembling hand to his lips. They were wet. As he lowered the hand, he saw the fingertips were covered with blood. “Will you raise a hand to him even now, Count Marylcian?” the cursed count then said while calmly looking at Marylcian, who lowered his cane and gritted his teeth before he collected himself.

“If you are prepared to go to such lengths, so be it. But if his behavior is the least bit suspicious, I will put him down without mercy,” the cursed man hissed and then stormed out of the court room.

A murmur swept through the court once again, but this time it was quiet while still shocked. Slaine did not listen to any of it since his mind was spinning out of control while he stared at his blood-covered fingers.

‘ _The curse…! It’s in me!_ ’ he thought with terror beginning to crawl through him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to just let Inaho have some fun and try something new, and have Lemrina and Slaine build on their relationship before all hell broke loose with Slaine being cursed. Also, those who have read the AFWE-fic probably recognizes Azelein? She's my OC countess (since we have so few names of the 37 nobles) and I felt that the counts were overly represented, so I decided to reuse her in this fic as well because it gives me a little more freedom as a writer by not only sticking to the canon characters.


	24. Toll for the Brave 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspiration to Slaine's part: [The Empire of Corpses OST - 20 - ただ、あなたに一言を (However, in Your Word)](https://youtu.be/TXZH5yDaH0w?list=PLGfL50uqjVw4-_MZFBeYOljaHda4jwv3A)  
> Inspiration to Inaho's part: [Alex Skrindo & Geoxor - KawaiiStep](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0g1xzCpEOM)

“From this day forth, you are my son, Slaine,” he heard Saazbaum say quietly.

A gentle hand landed on his shoulder to show him out of the court room. Distractedly, the blond followed his master – his mind enveloped by a daze from the tremendous shock from what had happened a moment earlier.

They met Harklight in the corridor outside the grand room, who had been waiting for Slaine to finish presenting his tactic to the elitists. The moment the young man saw the blond man’s expression and the blood on his lips and chin, the servant immediately understood what had happened and stared with a sincerely stunned expression at the young lord. He hurriedly walked up to the blond to offer Slaine whatever support he might ask for, but the blond young man was so unstable that he had no idea what to say or do. Instead, Harklight followed the two lords in silence.

“I know what you were trying to do by provoking Count Marylcian,” Saazbaum continued with a somewhat scolding tone. “I ask you to refrain from stepping on thin ice like that again before you have grown in power. Had I not stepped in between you, he would have struck you down.”

Slaine barely understood what the cursed man said. He was becoming erratic from panic as the imaginative feeling of the curse spreading inside him made his mind spin with horror and terror of what was going to happen within hours and the oncoming days. He had spent enough time with the cursed creatures to know what it meant to be cursed. He had never seen the process of turning himself since Cruhteo had not been interested in gifting it to others due to the loathing he felt toward the human population, but Slaine knew perfectly well his humanity was disappearing with each tick of the clock.

There was no way of going back now; once the curse entered a human body, the human was doomed. No matter what he did now, he would lose his humanity. Three days of sickness and disease awaited him, and then…

‘ _I will die… I will die!_ ’

A whimper escaped him and he stopped walking after they had rounded a corner. He slumped with his back against the wall and, with trembling hands gripping his hair, he found himself in complete disbelief of what had happened. He could not apprehend it no matter how much he tried since there was no reason left in his mind. Only confusion and terror resided in him. The panicked breaths quickened and got deeper, and his knees shook beneath him. Nausea welled up in his stomach and threatened to make him vomit, and his voice slowly took over as it wanted to be released from his throat; his breaths slowly were turning into screams during this moment of pulsating panic.

He had been so calm earlier when Count Marylcian had been about to strike him, and he had been so sure death was not frightening anymore due to the emotional pain he had to live with every day. That kind of death – the sudden form of death where no pain existed – was not frightening, but the death he was to experience now was slow and painful. An unpleasant memory floated into his mind and he stared at the lifeless corpse of the human boy from one and a half years ago. Okisuke’s face was billowing in his chaotic mind, and the knowledge of something as bizarre as dying, just like the boy, made fear sweep through him, taking control.

“Slaine, calm down,” he heard Saazbaum say and hands were put on his shoulders. The sudden touch silenced the blond young man. “Look at me, Slaine.” The human young man tried to collect his thoughts to organize the task of raising his head and look at the cursed count before him, but he failed his first attempt. After Saazbaum urged him to try again and Slaine looked into the dark eyes looking back at him, the count said: “You shall become one of us. It is a great honor. I know it might be frightening to meet your first death this suddenly, but you gave me no choice back there.”

Was this all Slaine’s fault? Had he stepped over a line he should not? Had he brought this upon himself? Was he dying because he had been reckless and impatient – barking back at someone of higher status than him?

“F-forgive me…” Slaine gasped and stared at his master with panic. “I… I don’t…” His breaths were so frenzied he could barely speak. On top of that, his mind was being stretched and torn apart, which prevented him to form a coherent thought. “What do I…?” He did not know what he was trying to say. He simply felt he should say something to answer his master. “M-my lord-”

“We need to take you to your room. You cannot stay out here in the open since you are clearly panicking. Grit your teeth, my boy. I know you can. This way, Slaine,” his lord then urged.

Without the ability to question what was going on, Slaine was shown down the elaborately decorated corridors to his and Lemrina’s room. Saazbaum’s hand rested on his shoulder the entire way and the cursed man supported the frightened young man whenever Slaine’s legs were about to give way beneath him.

By the time Slaine stepped into the room, his mind had gone completely blank. Nothing around him felt real, as if it was all fake and something he could not interact with. Not even his presence felt real; he felt like an unrested ghost mindlessly floating through this thing called reality with nowhere to go and nothing to do but wait for something unknown.

“You will have the entire the oncoming week off; worry not about your duties or lessons. You will begin noticing the curse in a couple of hours, and it will successively worsen your condition during the following three days, until you die,” he heard Saazbaum say next to him – the cursed count’s voice sounding like an echo. Slaine turned his terrified gaze up to his lord, and Saazbaum continued: “If you need anything, let your servant know and he shall help you. I have to attend the discussion about Princess Lemrina’s future, which regretfully means I have to leave. Rest up, and I shall see you later, Slaine.”

The cursed man disappeared and left him alone. Just like that.

The moment Saazbaum’s hand disappeared from Slaine’s shoulder and the cursed man walked out of the room, the human young man felt like collapsing as the support from the other disappeared. What would he do now? He took a couple of stumbling steps deeper into the room that was empty of souls except of him and Harklight, and then his knees buckled beneath him. The older blood sacrifice quickly caught him into a warm embrace and held the blond tightly.

“It is all right, my young lord,” Harklight whispered gently and raised a hand to the back of Slaine’s head, supporting the blond young man’s head from slumping forward as Slaine had no power in his neck to hold it up.

Slaine could only stare into empty space as the young man’s warmth began seeping through his clothes and reached his skin. He rested his cheek against Harklight’s chest and felt it rise with each breath he took, and the sound of a beating heart was heard inside the warm body.

Warmth… Human warmth… Finally.

Something strange overwhelmed him – something he had not felt for a very long time. He felt like a child crying for their mother or father, hoping someone would hear him and give him comfort now that he was frightened of the monsters that had crawled out from the closet and beneath his bed. The monsters were breathing down his neck and crawling in his body, infecting him cell by cell, and he wanted someone to save him from them. The desperation grew as he knew there were no super heroes in this world; he was completely left to handle these monsters on his own.

A shudder ran through him, and then the tears sprung out from his tear ducts. They ran down his cheeks and began washing away the blood left on his chin, and it dripped onto the servant’s jacket.

“Young lord...” Harklight whispered and brushed through Slaine's silky hair as the young man silently cried and slowly raised his trembling hands to cling to the servant's uniform. “I am sorry. It will be all right,” the young man then whispered and held Slaine tightly. “I shall be here for you.”

“H-Hark- … light....” the blond whispered with a voice thick with nausea. Something pushed in his throat.

The other blood sacrifice showed Slaine to the bathroom as he seemed to understand what was going on, and he supported the newly cursed vassal who weakly vomited everything his stomach contained. It felt as if Slaine had been stricken with food-poisoning, and Harklight gently explained the human stomach was not made to handle blood and reacted as if the blood was toxic – which it was in large enough quantities. The blond young man could barely understand what the other said, but he somehow managed to pick up on the overall importance of what the servant said.

The blond vassal went entirely limp once his stomach had finished vomiting, and Harklight took him into his arms once again. Slaine let his body rest in the other’s arms and closed his eyes, resigning himself for his fate despite the fear he felt. It was as if something animalistic came over him; his instincts told him he could not run nor hide, nor could he fight this deadly enemy. Instead, he should give up and lie down and die no matter how scared he was.

‘ _It’s all right_ ,’ his mind told him. ‘ _There’s nothing more you can do; you fought well_.’

But … he had not been fighting at all. How could he fight even? The enemy was invisible and hid deep inside his skin, all the way in the depths of his cells.

Had it been a normal death – a death where he would not wake up and remember how it felt to die – then he would not have been as frightened as he was. Death itself had stopped being frightening a while ago since he had settled his mind around the concept of disappearing from this agonizing world and had found comfort in the dark rooms on the other side. Now, with this curse running in his body, he was forced to endure three painful days and die, and then wake up to wander the earth once more as an undead corpse.

This time, the desperation grew to such unbearable levels Slaine could not keep his calm. If he could not fight this curse, then he would cry. He would beg it to disappear and leave him alone – and, with that emotional decision, his silent cries erupted into screams.

“My lord!” Harklight exclaimed surprised and tightened his arms around Slaine all the more. “Please, I know you are afraid, but you should not scream this loud; they will hear you and you might lose the little respect you have built up.”

The blond did not understand what the young man said. Instead, he pulled at the other’s uniform and uncontrollably cried and screamed from fear of the Grim Reaper who would come for him and see what a mess he was, do the duty of killing him, and leave him behind to be taken by the bedroom monsters instead; the Grim Reaped did now want him this way.

“Young lord,” Harklight said desperately and pushed a hand against Slaine’s mouth to silence his frightened cries. “Please!”

Why should Slaine care about the vampires hearing him? Why was he not allowed to scream and cry now that he was so frightened? He was about to die; he should be allowed to scream his heart out if he so wished. A curse was eating away at him, changing him into something else he had never been before; into a monster that lived on the life-force of others. Why did he always have to suffocate his emotions and be a lifeless doll – even in a moment like this?

Why…

Why?

Why?!

WHY?!

Slaine tore Harklight’s hand away from his mouth and clung to him with desperation as he continued crying. Harklight attempted at silencing him again and hushed into Slaine’s ear, but the blond tore the servant’s hand away from his mouth once again. The older of the two young men did not stop trying, and finally managed to overpower the blond; a warm hand pushed against Slaine’s lips and, this time, the blond did not pull it away.

Instead, he let the hand silence him.

“You should get into bed, young lord,” Harklight’s voice said somewhere close to his ear.

Slaine had no strength to answer and instead stood limply in Harklight’s arms – already feeling like the corpse he was slowly becoming.

†††

“There he is! Get him!” someone yelled and Inaho turned around to look at the line of pollywogs rushing toward him on the flight deck.

The brunet calmly watched them while trying to keep track of those who were approaching him from somewhere behind him to his right. He was surrounded and the pollywogs were serious about catching him, which Inaho found pleasing since he felt he needed for a challenge to know where his limits were. On top of that, the people on board the ship needed experience with handling a cursed creature, and, since Inaho was strong enough with the power granted by being of fourth generation, they would get perfect experience while trying to catch him without the risk of being killed.

‘ _Five people_ ,’ he thought as he watched the row of pollywogs close in on him. The line was five persons thick, which meant it was easy to skip over them. ‘ _You need to try a little more than that._ ’

When he recognized the people behind him closing in on him as well, he dashed forward to avoid being caught and rushed toward the pollywogs running toward him. Then he made a perfect leap, turned his body while up in the air to use momentum, and landed on the other side of the human row with a gentle thud.

“He’s getting away!”

“Grab him!”

“We almost had him!”

The screaming heap of people hurried after him and Inaho avoided those who had decided to chase him solo by zigzagging through them. As he got to the superstructure, a small gang of pollywogs blocked the passage leading into the ship, and he had to make a back flip to escape from a pollywog who dared to dash up to him. Instead of making his way through the entrances in the superstructure, he took aim at the railing below the bridge high up above the deck. By collecting strength into his legs, he jumped up and landed on the other side of the railing.

“Woah! Damn it!” someone yelled.

“We need to get up there!” another ordered.

The brief buzzing of the dual-band radars, which were hidden behind specific panels on the superstructure, was caught in his ears and the brunet had to consciously begin filtering the noise to be able to make out the sounds of those chasing him. The wind and waves around the anchored ship, along with his violently beating pulse, added to the distracting sounds around him, which made it difficult for him to keep his attention on only one type of sound; the running steps of his pretended enemies.

‘ _Focus_ ,’ he thought and tried his best to filter away the noises he did not need to listen to at the moment.

After a while, he heard steps come running from somewhere behind the structure, and he looked up just in time to see Calm's determined face round the corner. Immediately, Inaho leaped up onto the railing and proceeded with jumping up onto the platform on bridge deck, standing right outside of the windows where the officers on duty stared at him with dumbfounded expressions.

“Damn you, ol’ pal!” he heard Calm yell from the deck below him.

‘ _More. I need something more difficult than this_ ,’ the brunet thought as he found the flight deck to be too easy to run around on; he had so much space around him he could easily avoid his chasers.

Perhaps he should return to the hangar bay where he had enough space to have a fair chance to avoid being captured, but also amp up the level of difficulty by being in an area that was more cramped than the enormous flight deck.

‘ _How should I get down there?_ ’ he wondered as the starboard door to the platform opened, and a girl he did not know the name of, but whom he recognized, stepped out onto the narrow platform.

“Now you're caught, pirate!” the girl said as she attached a safety line to the railing and began walking toward him.

Inaho backed away from her while mulling over how he would get down to the hangar bay. It was probably impossible to slip through the watertight doors on flight deck that led into the Gallery deck below; plenty of pollywogs most likely guarded the doors. His other choice was to use the large elevators that were used to raise the vehicles and aircrafts onto flight deck.

The port side door behind him opened and a young man stepped out on the other side of the platform. The brunet was surrounded from both sides.

“You have nowhere to run now!” the young man exclaimed and daringly hurried toward the brunet.

‘ _I need some oxygen soon to keep going_ ,’ Inaho thought and took a step onto the railing again. His muscles felt like they were slowly starting to cramp. Soon his breathing would become strained as the blood flowing in his veins was mercilessly emptied of oxygen by the curse.

“Oh, no you won't!” the girl said as the brunet took aim at the platform outside the flight deck control room, located above the bridge.

“Sorry,” the boy said to the girl before he pushed himself off of the railing toward the deck above, and caught the edge of it. He heaved himself onto the platform and looked over the railing at the girl and young man glaring at him from below, and continued: “You have to try harder than that. You're too slow.”

“It's you who are too fast!” the young man argued.

“A vampire wouldn't mind that, now would it?” the brunet answered and continued to climb up to the monkey island, the deck on top of the super structure.

The sound of the sea was louder up on monkey island since he was so high up that nothing guarded him against the wind. This time, it was much more difficult to hear anything else but the wind, sea and his pulse beating in his ears, since the sounds overwhelmed his hearing. Despite that, he decided he should try the crew's determination and let them chase him all the way up to the highest top of the tower on the superstructure, about sixty meters above the sea surface.

The height frightened many of the pollywogs who dared to climb up toward him while he guarded the tower he had momentarily claimed as his. He patiently waited for as many pollywogs as possible to gather below, before attempting to run for the aircraft elevator down on flight deck.

‘ _I will have to jump down there. My body won't take that much damage, which means I have to avoid falling and jump from surface to surface_ ,’ he planned and removed the small oxygen tube from his belt.

The moment he took a deep breath of the oxygen, his mind became hazy for a brief moment as his blood was oxygenated. In case he would stagger, he took a hold of the railing and leaned against it while he released his breath and waited for the haziness to settle. This time, he only needed two breaths of oxygen; he felt himself recover pretty quickly; his muscles stopped cramping.

‘ _I haven't pushed myself properly yet; two breaths is nothing_ ,’ he thought with a little bit of frustration brewing in his chest. He straightened his back to look down at the small crowd of pollywogs gathering next to the ladder that lead up to the platform where he stood. ‘ _I won't be able to save Asseylum and Slaine if I don't get to push myself to the point where I really need oxygen; cursed creatures aren't this easy to deal with_.’

The humans were of no match for him, and he could understand why the cursed creatures were so cocky each time humans and vampires were to meet on the battleground. The cursed did not fear the slow and weak humans since they knew they were far stronger and faster than the mortal beings. The vampires could foresee the humans’ attacks before they hit them, which allowed them to dodge bullets and grenades as well as physical attacks without much trouble.

Inaho had the disadvantage of still being human; if he was hit by bullets he would bleed and take serious damage from it that could be lethal, while a cursed creature who was hit by bullets would be able to push their bodies through the damage. It was not nearly as dangerous for a cursed creature to bleed as it was for a human since they had no organs to worry about, and the blood served no other purpose but to power their bodies to function. In case a vampire was wounded, they could feed on a human to heal and regenerate quickly.

‘ _But I can't do that_ ,’ the brunet thought and watched the first pollywog climb up onto the platform. ‘ _I can't heal like a cursed creature can_.’

It had been concluded during his stay in the research facility that Inaho could not heal by drinking human blood. The brunet had reacted like all other humans would when drinking the red and organic liquid; he had vomited shortly after consuming a small glass and his body had not been able to handle the excess of iron; the human body had no iron-extracting mechanism, which made blood dangerous. His stomach had reacted as if the blood had been poison and had forced it back up. It meant it was dangerous for Inaho to consume blood for healing purposes, since he would most definitely get iron poisoning. Among some of the symptoms, he would risk getting liver failure or low enough blood pressure that he would go into shock and die.

As the pollywog, who had dared to venture out onto the platform where Inaho stood, tried to run up to the brunet and catch him, Inaho swung his body over the railing and landed on the platform below, where a small crowd of pollywogs tried to catch him. Then he jumped down onto the monkey island, avoided the pollywogs there, and continued his way down while no one managed to capture him.

†††

The darkness surrounded him like a safe haven. The soft mattress and pillow comforted him as he lay exhausted in bed, to where Harklight had shown him a couple of hours earlier. Here, beneath the duvet, he could dwell in solitude and simply exist for the little time he had left as a human. He had stayed in bed for a while now – exactly for how long, he did not know, and he did not care either – and had gone through his life, memory by memory, to make sure he remembered his life as a human properly before he died and became a monster.

“Do you need anything, my lord?” Harklight asked somewhere outside the duvet.

His voice was careful and filled with empathy.

“No…” the blond answered breathlessly.

“Hesitate not to give me an order, young lord,” Harklight then said gently. “Princess Lemrina will return soon; the meeting about her future as a queen should come to an end any moment.”

Slaine nodded – unsure if Harklight saw his answer or not. The emotional shock from what had happened had stolen his capability to function properly. He had no wish or motivation to even try voicing his needs as he could not come up with a reason to why it should matter. He was dying anyway; hunger, thirst and pain meant nothing to him anymore. Human heat was all he wished for – to the point he even longed back to Orange's warm hands. Despite that, he could not bother to let the servant know it was human heat the blond wanted. Why would it matter anyway?

‘ _I'm dying… My needs don’t matter anymore._ ’

The servant let him rest in peace, and the room fell silent once gain. After a while, the door opened and he could hear Lemrina’s serious voice immediately say:

“Harklight. Leave us.” She seemed to know what was going on. Saazbaum must have informed her. Slaine’s servant obeyed and left the room, and soon someone lifted the duvet covering the stunned vassal. “I heard the news from Saazbaum. I am so sorry, Slaine, for what has been done to you,” Lemrina’s careful voice then said as light crept to Slaine’s eyes from the opening she had created. “How are you feeling?”

“I'm not sure…” Slaine whispered and did not bother to look up at her; he did not move at all.

“I can imagine that. It must have been a horrible shock to be cursed so suddenly out of the blue,” she said and let the duvet fall over him. “I will take a bath, Slaine. If you need me, just call me.”

The young man did not answer and instead let his thoughts disappear once again into his memories. Lemrina sighed heavily and left him alone, which the blond young man appreciated. She ordered Eddelrittuo to start a fire in the hearth made by marble and ordered blood to the room before she disappeared to take a bath.

The room then went silent once again as the cursed princess took a bath and Slaine and Lemrina were left alone after the cursed princess had ordered the handmaiden to leave them. The only time there was any other kind of noise was when Eddelrittuo’s small steps walked into the room when she arrived with the blood Lemrina had ordered, before she disappeared again. A sweet flowery smell spread in the room while the fire in the hearth crackled softly, both of which gave the tired vassal a tiny bit of comfort.

Slaine had no idea for how long Lemrina had been in the bathroom once she stepped out of there, but he did not reflect on it either. For him, time stood still.

“I am back, Slaine…” Lemrina’s quiet voice purred again somewhere close by.

This time, the sound of her movements told him she was walking, probably after having fed on the blood she had ordered to the room. Without another word, she slipped in beneath the duvet as well and shuffled closer to him. An arm reached around Slaine’s waist to hold him tenderly and the blond noticed something was different with her. Slaine’s mind awoke from the strange sensation that enveloped him. The sensation was completely new.

She was warm.

“Slaine,” Lemrina said again. Her warm breath brushed against his neck. “I know I might not be what you want, and I am probably not a comfort in this terrifying moment since this heat is just an illusion, but if you want to, then I am here for you. You are not alone.”

She must have fed on a lot of blood and soaked her body in warm water for a long time; she was just slightly warmer than a human and her touch made his skin kindle with the same warmth a human touch did. Her heat did feel comforting despite it being an illusion, and it would feel comforting for as long as she would hold him. Orange's warmth had had the same effect on him, and Slaine had gladly and shamefully consumed it with greed.

“Lemrina…” Slaine whispered so quietly his words were barely audible. He decided he would give in to the warmth this time as well and let her hold him without questioning her intensions. “Don’t let go.”

“Then turn toward me,” she whispered back with a gentle tone. “Let me hold you properly.”

When Slaine obeyed, he was startled by the sight of naked skin. Lemrina was completely naked before him beneath the duvet, and it made him hesitate; was he allowed to look at her, let alone touch her?

When their gazes met, she looked at him with pity.

“Come,” she urged with a whisper and held out her arms for him. “There will be no strings attached.”

At that, Slaine selfishly moved over to her and put his arms around her waist to pull the naked body close. He held her with desperation, trying to claim all of the comfort he could from her heat. Her naked skin was so warm it made his own skin slowly dampen with sweat, and it was the first time he felt another’s heat like this in its raw form. The moment they shared now was far more intimate than the day before when they had spent the entire day among paint and brushes, and it felt somewhat forbidden despite her giving him permission to be held by her.

The death anxiety from before awoke again as comfort washed over him; the warmth of someone else always had this effect on him, as if the comforting sensation deteriorated his self-discipline of not crying. It had happened with Orange, and it had happened with Harklight. Now it happened even with a vampire, as if his desperation for warmth knew no boundaries. It was pathetic of him – even ugly. The moment someone offered him warmth, he could not stop himself from wallowing in it and let his emotions run free, which nearly always led to him crying and begging for more.

‘ _Like a child_ ,’ he thought and hated himself for it.

This emotional pain made Slaine pull his nails across her back, nearly clawing at her skin as he desperately sought for support from the body offered to him. This comfort did not feel enough for him, though. He wanted to feel her more, just hold her close enough to have the sensation of them being separated by skin and the young man’s uniform disappear. With Orange and Harklight, Slaine had not had the need to ask for more, but now, as he was dying, he was so afraid that he wanted to ask for everything Lemrina had to give him.

“C-careful, Slaine,” Lemrina gasped with pain as his nails dragged over the skin on the cursed girl’s back.

The blond did not ask for forgiveness, nor did he relieve the pressure of his fingers on her back. Instead, he released a quiet whimper against her slender shoulder and buried his face against the crook of her neck, clinging so tightly to the warm cursed creature that there was no space between their bodies.

In a couple of days, he would do this to a human, but with the intention of biting them for blood. It made him feel sick as the thought hit him suddenly, and he quickly hid it away in a dark corner of his mind to deal with it later.

“You are developing a fever,” Lemrina whispered. “Your skin is hotter than usual and your breath smells as if you have an inflammation somewhere.”

Slaine felt his heart squeeze in his chest and a gasp from fear escaped from between his lips. He tightened his arms around her to find whatever support she had to give him and, soon, hands brushed through his hair – carefully and tenderly.

“This might be your first and last time lying with someone like this,” the cursed princess whispered with kindness. “Get out of those clothes and let me be a night to fill that empty space of yours. I will be nothing but a moment, and the reason is that I want to help you deal with your fear. Imagine me as my sister if you need to, I will not mind.”

A sudden image of Asseylum's kind smile drifted up from a dark corner of his mind ad Lemrina’s words, and he felt an awkward hesitation. He would never be able to think about her when holding someone else. He would never be able to imagine doing something like this to her.

“I can't…” Slaine whispered and felt Lemrina's arms tighten around his torso.

It was impossible for the blond to follow her advice of imagining her as Asseylum. A bad taste spread in his mouth just by thinking about holding the sleeping cursed princess like this, and to do what Lemrina asked them to do would be impossible with his beloved. He loved Asseylum deeply – so deeply it was forbidden to touch her this way.

“I will not hold it against you,” the cursed princess whispered back. “Whatever happens tonight, it will stay in this bed, here and now.”

Slaine had to admit he did begin to feel the thought of stealing heat from the depths of another body appealing. Perhaps it was the only way there was for him to wipe out the frustrating feeling of skin and clothes being in the way. In this moment, he did not give a damn who he betrayed by giving into the desperation, and he did not care how ugly it was either. But…

“Why…? Why do you offer yourself like this?” the young man asked quietly with a trembling breath.

Lemrina went silent for a short moment, as if she was trying to figure out how to answer. After a moment of silence, the cursed girl finally sighed.

“I wish not to see you miss out on such a meaningful experience like this – even if I know you would prefer doing this with someone you love,” she said quietly, as if talking from her own experience. “I think your heart should race for the last time.”

What she had done for him was plenty enough to give him support. She had heated up her body in a warm bath and had had plenty of blood to stay warm for as long as possible so that he could use her kindness. However, she continued to offer support to further lengths than that by letting him violate her body just for the sake of letting him feel how human he could be. There was no doubt she loved him just as much as Slaine loved Asseylum, but in the passionate way rather than how a family member loved another.

Right now, Slaine lacked the luxury to only share his body with someone he loved. It was useless for him to wait for that moment since he did not have the ability to love like that; all he felt was divine love for his beloved sleeping princess. If he was to share his body with someone and something that felt like a human, then this would be his one and only moment to experience it while still having a beating heart. Tomorrow, he would be too weak, and the next day … he would be dead.

“Thank you,” the blond whispered and held her tighter still.

A soft kiss landed on his neck and he flinched from the all too familiar feeling of lips against his neck. This time, in place of the sting of fangs, a hushed voice brushed his ear.

“I will not bite you,” the cursed princess whispered and placed her hands on his back and neck.

Lips kissed his neck once again and the warmth from the kisses made the blond shiver. Slender fingers caressed him through his hair and down his neck, continued further down his body and then circled to the front of his uniform, where the buttons were opened one after another and he was slowly undressed.

All he could do was to let it happen. The desire to stop her now was naught; she took the initiative while promising him there would be no unpleasant repercussions. He wanted to believe her word and trust her in order to get this moment that suddenly, due to his fear of dying, felt important.

“Think of her,” she whispered. “Close your eyes and think of the one you love; who exhilarates you. Let that thought and image occupy your mind.”

If he would think of Asseylum, there would not be such an exhilaration he needed to make his body want to fall into the pit of carnal pleasure. Everyone kept misunderstanding the love he felt for her, thinking of it as something as defiling as it being of sexual nature. Slaine would never dream of touching the sleeping cursed princess this way; she excited him in an innocent way; made him feel greatly happy each time she smiled at him.

Instead, he needed to find another reason to build up the excitement he needed, but his mind was empty of memories or thoughts that would bring forth an exhilarating emotion.

His uniform was pushed off of his shoulders, and – with great confusion – he helped Lemrina undress him to even out the unfairness of her being the only one entirely exposed and vulnerable. She seemed used to this, as if she had done this many times before. It should not have surprised him; in reality, she was about twice his age and she had probably had her share of experience like this.

“Lemrina...” he sighed as she gently caressed her nails across his back. “I-”

“Think of the one who thrills you. Forget about me being here,” she encouraged quietly when interrupting him. “This body belongs to that lone individual.”

Someone who would thrill him… Only two people had been able to excite him in a non-destructive way. The first was the ever so beautiful Asseylum, who always looked at him with kindness and care. The other was a nameless being, someone who’s smile Slaine had seen only in his hazy memory; the smile that was about to excite him as well. It was the smile that never let that emotion finish before it disappeared and took the undeveloped excitement with it.

That fuzzy smile… If he could only capture it.

It flickered in his mind once again and replaced the image of the smiling Asseylum like it had always done the past month. This time, Slaine refused to let the excited emotion disappear. He would forcefully hold onto it and use and discover it in this moment until the excitement lingered.

As Lemrina's hands touched him in ways that no one had ever touched him before, the excitement began finally growing. Slaine closed his eyes tightly, let his heart begin rushing and urged his flesh to be set ablaze. He trapped that excitement – cornered it and forced it to awaken and flourish while he wondered who that smile belonged to. As he let himself get excited, the mystery of this person made the excitement grow further. Suddenly, that smile excited him in a different way than Asseylum’s did, and the warm body touching him was his tool to relieve the emotion.

As if he had been stricken by a sudden and animalistic greed, he finally pushed Lemrina down against the mattress and mounted her. She released a surprised gasp but did not refuse him; her body was given to him without hesitation, knowing he would only use it for his own gain and give nothing of himself to her. The excitement he had entrapped was erupting inside him now that he forced it to bloom properly for the first time, and Lemrina seemed relieved to let him help himself live it out on her.

It was a mystery what she felt and thought in this moment – if she was happy about him finally giving her carnal attention or not. Why would she degrade herself into a tool for him to use as he pleased? She said it was for him; to give him an experience he would otherwise never come across as a cursed creature since his heart would never race like this ever again. Was it an honest intention? Did this truly mean nothing to her, to have him ravish her body for the sole reason of pleasing himself? Was this love?

‘ _This is so messed up_ ,’ the blond thought but somehow found he did not care at all. Let it be warped and destructive; nothing could be more destructive than death; this kind of destructive behavior should not matter at all.

This form of heat – with two beings sharing their warmth with each other – was intoxicating. It felt fragile and dangerous at the same time, and Slaine was entirely consumed by it. He stopped caring about her reasons of doing this. All he knew was that it felt gratifying and tremendously comforting, and he wanted it. Together, they kissed as if they tried to devour each other, and the blond felt their lips and tongues playing spur his heat into pure lust.

‘ _Give me your warmth_ ,’ he hazily thought with the fuzzy smile playing in his mind, urging him to feel the excitement brew in the pit of his stomach. ‘ _Give me all of it now that I'll lose my own_.’

Lemrina released silent gasps – sometimes loud enough her voice gently attacked Slaine's ears and reminded him about whom he was defiling with his desperate need. The moment he was reminded about the body beneath him belonging to Lemrina, he forced that awareness away and concentrated only on the smile playing in his mind and let the excitement bloom again and again. The times when that smile was about to fade away, Slaine tried to grab it and pull it back, and, for each thrust with his hips, a violent tingle shot down his spine and made the smile feel slightly more vivid again – and along with it, the excitement kept growing.

The cursed girl's legs were wrapped around his waist and her hands had coiled around him like snakes. The silent cries sounded as if what they were doing was both pleasing and painful, but – whether or not he was hurting her – she did not push him away or stop him. She let him invade her body, push into her and claim the heat she had created for his sake. She sacrificed her pride and self-respect by opening her body for him, and she tore it down each time she tried to suffocate her moans and gasps to let his fantasy of someone else stay alive.

He was a villain – no doubt about it. Even if she allowed him to do this, he was a monster for using her to satisfy his own needs – needs he earlier thought did not matter. He stole all of her comfort; claimed it from her and took it with force by defiling her body with his need. He wondered if he would regret this in the future, and, for a moment, he feared he would not care at all.

Even now, he could not bother to open his eyes and see that she was all right as he feared the excitement would die along with the sight of her moaning beneath him. Lemrina was not someone he loved like this; she was not someone he would be able to share his body with out of lust for her. She was a dear friend to him – a caged bird in the same cage as him. They would live and die together, abuse and care for each other since they had no other choice. Doing this to and with her was yet another way to punish themselves – yet another way to hurt each other. It was nothing of the sort what lovers would do; it was pure greed and cruelty, and nothing more.

‘ _I'm sorry_ …’ he thought as the hazy smile of the unknown person began to fade again. Tears sprung to his eyes as he slowly began to wake up from his delusion and realized what he was doing. ‘ _I don't love you, Lemrina. I will hold you close and think of somebody else, and I will treat you unkindly whenever I need you to be my help like this. As long as you hold onto me, I'll be your very own demented monster. Please, never stop holding onto me…_ ’

†††

With his breath caught in his throat, Inaho ran across the stage that had been built the day before, for the talent show to entertain Neptune and his court. His legs were burning from the lactic acid being produced in the muscles and his pulse was beating away so loudly he barely heard anything else. The idea to take the chase into the hangar had been successful; here he had to push his abilities to their limits in a real-life situation since it was cramped due to the cargo and enclosed by the bulkheads and decks below and above.

The pollywogs running after him had also begun to grow fatigued. They were weak in their limbs and nearly stumbled over the floor as they ran. The ones who were still somewhat energized were those who had taken breaks or had a good physique from a long time of exercising.

‘ _I'll grow too tired soon_ ,’ he thought as he had to muster his body to perform a jump, and he landed onto a pile of wooden cargo boxes with a heavy landing. He was become less graceful than before from the exhaustion.

“Watch out! He'll escape!” someone yelled, but Inaho had no time to figure out who it was since he knew he would be cornered quickly if he stopped moving.

He made a leap over a couple of pollywogs and landed on the body of a jet. The surface was so smooth he momentarily lost his footing and stumbled a step before stabilizing his exhausted body on the aircraft. The pollywogs began swarming around the fighter jet and he watched them stare and glare at him with determination to capture him.

‘ _Where do I go now?_ ’ he wondered and looked around the hangar bay while thinking quickly as a pollywogs were climbing onto the aircraft.

He set his eyes on a pipe running above him and decided to use it as a way of escaping. He pushed himself off of the aircraft and grabbed the pipe, and by using the momentum, he swung his body toward another jet and landed on it instead.

“Prepare a net, god damn it!” someone yelled. “He's a slippery one!”

“Prepare several of them!” a second ordered.

Inaho leaped over to a third jet fighter, and continued over to the fourth, when he heard a screaming mad laughter from somewhere to his right, saying:

“GOT YA, PIRATE!”

It was Calm's voice, and Inaho threw a glance at the boy who was standing on one of the lifts stationed next to the bulkhead. The boy had a water balloon in his hand and a couple of more in a pile next to him while a teasing grin played on his lips, and he raised his hand that held the balloon and swung it toward Inaho. The brunet dodged it successfully, but, as he leapt over to the fifth fighter jet, a balloon exploded on top of it before he landed. A green thick liquid spread out over the aircraft's body and Inaho had no choice but to land on it. The moment his feet touched the aircraft, he immediately slipped.

‘ _Soap?!_ ’ he thought shocked and tried to regain his balance, but the aircraft's surface was so smooth that the soap made it impossible for him to stand or stop sliding.

The brunet lost his footing entirely and fell down from the aircraft, but he masterfully made a roll to break his fall and instantly got back onto his feet to continue running.

“W-whaaaaa-?!” he heard Calm exclaim somewhere behind him. “That's not fair, dude!”

The idea of soap and innocent projectiles spread throughout the pollywogs chasing him, and soon he had to dodge a rain of soap filled water balloons, which had been stolen from Calm. Inaho had nowhere else to run now that he was closing in on the end of the hangar, and he decided he should try to jump over the crowd running after him and run the other way.

As the bulkhead before him was close enough, he jumped up toward it and turned in the air to perform a push-off from the wall. With the last remaining strength, he made a powerful push with his feet planted against the wall and, with an athletic flip in the air to get into the right position to land, he rolled over the deck and continued running.

‘ _I can't keep this up much longer_ ,’ he thought while gasping for breath. ‘ _I need oxygen!_ ’

“Open the water pressure!” he heard Inko's voice in the crowd, and soon a loud hissing sound attacked the brunet's ears and cold water sprayed all over him with powerful pressure.

Inko had come up with the idea of using the fire hoses and had somehow managed to persuade a couple of pollywogs to help her spray the brunet down with cold water, which overwhelmed Inaho's situation and forced him to cut off from his escape route and run toward the aircraft elevator to his left. He stepped out onto the elevator where the obligatory green royal baths of seawater had been prepared for the pollywogs next to a pair of waterslides, and continued to quickly look around to see where he could escape.

Before he had the chance to do anything else, running steps closed in on him quickly and he barely managed to dodge Calm's infuriated attack of throwing himself at the brunet; Calm managed to grab Inaho's shirt and made him fall down, but then the boy lost his grip and stumbled onto one of the waterslides, fell face down onto it and slid across the elevator deck. He stopped lying on his back and eyes staring up at the clear sky, and released a loud and complaining groan.

Inaho staggered up onto his feet but was immediately tackled again. This time, due to him being distracted and exhausted, he did not see his assaulter before he stumbled backwards and hit the back of his legs against the edge of the tub for the royal bath, and fell into the green water along with his assaulter.

As he pushed himself up from the water and coughed as some of it had gotten into his nose, hands rested on his shoulders to hold him still and a female voice gasped:

“G-got'cha…!”

When Inaho opened his eyes, the brown eyes of his childhood friend stared back at him. Inko had caught him and she looked exhausted. Other pollywogs rushed out onto the elevator deck and everyone sighed and groaned from dissatisfaction of someone else but them having caught the pirate and earning themselves a personal slave for the day.

“Do you give up?” Inko then sighed and tried to catch her breath.

Inaho's chest heaved and his muscles begged for him to rest. He had to admit his defeat; he could not continue even if he wanted to.

“I give up,” the brunet gasped and watched his childhood friend smile warmly, before she raised a fist of victory into the air and yelled:

“Pollywog Amifumi caught the pirate!”

The applause from exhausted pollywogs, and the cheers from congratulating shellbacks, exploded around them. King Neptune was called to the elevator deck and the captain soon emerged from the crowd of pollywogs and shellbacks. Magbaredge had an amused smile on her lips as she looked at the teenagers drenched in the green water, and clapped her hands together.

“Congratulations, pollywog,” she said to Inko, and shellbacks helped Inaho and Inko out of the tub. “Now, as I – King Neptune – promised, you shall have the honor of using this pirate as your slave for the rest of the day.” She then turned to look at Inaho, and nodded to him with acknowledgement, and asked: “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” the brunet gasped and reached for the oxygen tube on his belt. “But … I need a moment to recover.”

“All of you need a moment like that,” the captain said. “All pollywogs: You did a great job and, as your captain, I am impressed. You shall all get an hour to rest up before you take the royal bath and get to leap off of the ship to finish this celebration.”

The people around them cheered happily while Inaho took a couple of deep breaths of the oxygen from his tube, and felt his mind go dizzy for a moment. He sat down onto the deck with a slumped posture, and Inko sat down next to him while looking at him with a worried and prying gaze.

“Inaho, are you okay?” she asked, and Inaho nodded.

“I pushed myself quite a bit,” he sighed between the deep breaths. “It feels good, though, since I got to test my abilities properly like this.”

Inko gave him a frowning smile and blushed.

“To think I caught you,” she said – also between deep breaths. “Imagine if Calm would have caught you. He wouldn't have let you rest for the entire evening.”

“Damn straight,” a grumpy voice said from behind them, and soon Calm stepped in front of them while also breathing deeply, leaning on his arms supported against his knees. “I would have forced you to carry me on your back and serve me grapes and stuff,” he said while looking at Inaho with a smile.

The brunet smiled back with amusement and secretly felt relieved.

“Oh, you're always so over the top!” Inko complained with an exacerbated sigh.

“What?! I'm just using what I can when I'm allowed to!” Calm said grumpily in the usual fashion whenever the two friends argued. “By the way, Inko: What will you use our old buddy for?”

The girl's eyes widened and an intense blush crept across her cheeks. She looked flushed and nervous.

“N-nothing in particular!” she blurted and behaved agitatedly.

“Oh, come on…!” Calm purred as he realized Inko was trying to keep her reasons of catching the brunet a secret. “Tell me!”

“S-shut up!” the girl shrieked with embarrassment.

“I know you're trying to hide something,” the other boy mused with a sneaky smile on his lips.

“Go away!” Inko growled pathetically and shooed the other boy away.

Calm left with a pout while muttering something about how unfair and mean Inko was, and the air continued being somewhat tense even when Inaho was left alone with the girl. The brunet looked at her as she blushed, and decided to ask:

“Since I will get to know it soon enough, would you mind telling me what you want me to do for you? I will keep my end of the deal with you catching me.”

Inko lowered her head to hide her blush behind her hair, and her hands squeezed tightly into fists. She was clearly nervous.

“Um…” she mumbled. “Promise not to laugh or anything…” The brunet simply nodded from confusion and waited for her to continue: “I … um … would want you to … uh … accept my first kiss…” She held her breath for a moment and squirmed somewhat, and then mumbled: “After that, you're free.”

The brunet blinked as he did not understand why she would want something like that, but decided not to disrespect her request. Instead, he leaned closer and waited for her to dare look up at him, and as she turned her head up – with her eyes tightly closed – he raised his hands to cup her cheeks.

‘ _Just like I did with Slaine_ ,’ the brunet thought and leaned closer to the girl's lips.

As their lips met, Inko held her breath and became even more flushed than before. Her lips were soft and warm, but not nearly as soft as Slaine's. Inaho could still remember the blond young man's lips against his from a month ago, as if they had kissed only yesterday, and he also realized he had shared his first kiss with the blond.

‘ _Maybe it is special?_ ’ he thought as he mulled over why Inko had wanted to give her first kiss to him. She loved him after all; it would not be unreasonable for her to want to share a special moment with the one she found special. ‘ _But I hope you remember that I don't love you back the way you love me_ ,’ the brunet thought troubled. ‘ _I also hope I didn’t cheat on him…_ ’

Once Inaho pulled his lips away from hers, he asked quietly:

“Was that enough?”

Inko hesitated for a moment while their breaths mingled, as if she wished to ask for more, but then nodded.

“Y-yeah... Thanks,” she answered quietly and pulled away from the boy.

After they had shared their innocent kiss, Inko immediately laughed it off and pretended nothing had happened. Instead, both Inaho and she got to take the royal bath together and continued celebrating by leaping off of the ship that had stopped in the middle of the sea, along with the rest of the pollywogs. Some wanted to be more daring and used the waterslides to slide off of the ship, while others simply jumped and landed in the water several meters below the elevator deck.

The line-crossing ceremony had come to its end, and the crew would continue their military mission the next day – less tiredly than two days earlier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inaho and Slaine are both living completely different lives, and I hope the contrast was clear in this chapter. I hope you enjoyed! ♥


	25. Toll for the Cursed 1

Silence. Stillness. A body as heavy as stone. A moment of confusion and then a hazy slumber. A gentle rock and then awake again. Silence. Stillness. A body as heavy as stone…

‘ _W-where … am I…?_ ’ he thought as he felt like he had broken the surface of water after sinking for quite some time.

He was slowly waking up from a strange slumber – so slowly he barely realized at what moment he had been able to form the thought of wondering where he was. No part of his body responded and he could not move at all, as if his body was locked; stiff and firm like a statue. Moving was impossible; his muscles were frozen and the joints were the same. As he attempted to take a breath, he immediately felt a burning pain shoot through him, beginning from his spine and rushing around his torso to his chest. It was as if even the joints to the ribs were locked and his chest muscle felt like it was torn apart as it stretched.

Slaine immediately stopped attempting to breathe and confusion swept over him and made him worried. He had to breathe. Otherwise he would suffocate. Or would he? Now that he hazily thought about it, his lungs were not burning with desperate need of oxygen.

‘ _What … is going on…?_ ’

“He is awakening,” someone whispered with excited relief.

Slaine had not noticed the presence next to him, and the voice surprised him. His senses were still to wake up properly. It was as if his hearing was muddled and – since he could not breathe – he felt no smells around him. His eyes were glued shut as well, robbing him of his sight, and the sensation of touch was yet to come back to him. The first thing he had felt was pain.

“But it has only been about twenty-eight hours. He is still in rigor mortis; it has not dissipated yet,” another voice said worriedly.

‘ _Rigor mortis…?_ ’ the blond thought and wished he could ask what they were speaking about, since they were clearly speaking about him. At this point, he was sure his voice would not function either. ‘ _The stiffening of a body?_ ’ he then wondered as he remembered what rigor mortis was. How could he be in such state? He was still alive. He heard the voices around him and he felt pain; they were a sign of life, right?

It was impossible to make out who the two voices belonged to since the state of confusion was so great he could not grasp what was going on. This state reminded him about waking up from a deep sleep, which had been so deep one would have difficulties gathering their thoughts once they tried to get up from the bed in the morning; his mind was horribly sluggish.

“To think he was unlucky enough to wake up in this state,” a third voice squeaked. “We should call for his father.”

Instinctively, he was suddenly overcome by the need to take a breath even if his lungs did not protest. It was as if his mind had gotten a short circuit and decided the body needed air despite he knew it would hurt tremendously. Just trying to open his mouth was horribly painful as both sides of his jaws were locked, which forced him to breathe in through his nose. The moment his chest moved a burning pain coursed through him again, and it hurt so badly he released the breath with a silent scream. Even releasing the breath and let his ribs fall back into the position they had been locked in was painful.

“Slaine! Be completely still. Otherwise it will just hurt since you are still too stiff to move about,” a voice told him.

‘ _W-what?_ ’ he thought as his mind began to wake up from the haziness. ‘ _I have to breathe!_ ’

“Call for Count Saazbaum, Eddelrittuo,” a male voice said. “Tell him his child is waking up during rigor mortis and he needs his master’s help.”

Slaine’s mind was starting to get the analytical ability back; he somehow began being able to make out the differences in the voices surrounding him.

‘ _Eddelrittuo…_ ’ Slaine then thought and listened to the small steps disappearing from the room. Did that mean Harklight and Lemrina was in the room as well? Had they been guarding over him?

“Stay calm, Slaine,” a female voice said quietly and a hand brushed through his hair. “You are back now. You have returned.”

Returned from where? He had just been sleepi-

“ _Schh… It is all right_ ,” a female voice said in his memory and a hand brushed through his hair in a similar way as the hand comforting him did now.

Water had been dabbed into his mouth with a small sponge, and it had pooled in and clogged the back of his throat, which had gone dry from his desperate and automated gasps. The eerie death rattle had sounded just like Okisuke’s, he remembered, and he had been too weak to swallow the water down – just like Okisuke from Shinawara. He had wished to tell the one giving him palliative care to stop feeding him water since it made dying uncomfortable – as if he had been drowning – but he had had no strength to give that person any kind of sign to stop.

It had been a confusing moment when Slaine had been aware of him being in the same state as the human boy he had assisted a while back, and he still wondered what had happened. Too many moments of the recent past was gone for him to be able to patch up the puzzling memory and understand what had happened to him.

He remembered the entire world had rocked at times – as if he had been lying in a violent cradle that someone remembered to impatiently rock now and then – and, at those moments, he had been disconnected from what had been going on and then been brought back a moment later, as if he had skipped through time. It had felt similar to a deep sleepiness that had threatened to sweep him away, but it had felt much emptier than that. At times, he had been aware of what had been happening around him, and, at times, he had been floating in limbo.

At times, he had not existed at all.

As he now went through his recent memories, he realized what his current state was. He had died back then. It had gone past so unexpectedly he had not noticed it as the thread connecting him to reality had snapped and cut him loose. No wonder he was confused. Now, however, he had been caught in another thread, still connecting him to the world he had lived in before his death. The curse was holding on to him; he was tangled up in it.

‘ _I’m a vampire…!_ ’

The shock was so great his mind blanked out for a moment and he simply dwelled in the emotion this realization left behind, before his mind began racing with questions – questions he could not ask yet. He had died and had woken up as an undead corpse. How did it feel to be a reanimated corpse? What would his undead life look like from here? How would his body feel once he was released from the rigor mortis? How strong would his senses be, and – most importantly – how would he look like?

He was nothing but a child again, who had to learn how his body functioned.

‘ _Someone, explain all this!_ ’ he thought desperately and feared the moment he would wake up properly. Waking up meant he had to face his new self and get to know his own reflection all over again. Sadly, Bram Stoker’s _Dracula_ was just fiction; the true vampires had a perfect reflection, and Slaine feared his.

The door opened into the room and strong steps walked up to where Slaine was lying. Immediately a somewhat warm hand placed itself on Slaine’s forehead. It felt as if each cell in his body reacted to that touch – unlike the touch from moments earlier. His cells screamed joyfully when he was touched, as if they belonged to the hand caressing him.

Then he recognized Saazbaum’s voice as it said:

“Welcome back, my boy. You were quite an eager one to wake up.” The left side of Slaine’s bed was pushed down by another’s body weight, and Saazbaum’s voice continued. “Listen to me now, my child. You are still in rigor mortis, which means your body is stiff. However, it has begun to dissipate slightly, which means you are able to move even if it is painful. What I need you to do is to open your eyes so that you can communicate with us. Can you do that for me?”

How did one open their eyes? It felt as if Slaine had forgotten how to do such a simple task. With great effort, he managed to make his eyelashes tremble, but his eyelids were glued shut. Just that simple movement of the mostly stiff muscles was agonizingly painful; it felt as if his eye sockets were burning.

“One more try, Slaine,” Saazbaum’s gentle tone encouraged, but it felt more like an order than a kind request; the cursed count’s words clearly were not meant to be an order but Slaine perceived them as such anyway, and the blond tried again while fighting off the pain.

He did not succeed this time either, and he kept on trying many times without results. Saazbaum, however, kept his calm and patiently continued urging the young vampire to keep trying as if he had done this a couple of times before. Slaine – who felt desperate to communicate with the world around him – kept trying. The more he tried and the more he failed he became frightened of never being freed from this stiff body since the situation began to feel hopeless, and that fright spurred him to continue.

‘ _I will not be locked in this body!_ ’ he thought desperately.

After a long time of trying, he finally opened his eyes into small cracks and the world outside of his undead body became slightly visible. The first thing he saw was a hazy and an almost monochrome image of his master – the proud cursed count named Saazbaum. The cursed man gave him a smile and reached his hand to Slaine’s cheek, which he caressed with a slightly warm thumb. Again, his cells vibrated from joy.

‘ _How strange…_ ’ he thought as he watched his master. ‘ _It’s as if I’m a part of him and my body knows this…_ ’

“Well done, Slaine,” the cursed count said gently and encouragingly. “Do you see me? Blink once for yes, and twice for no.”

Slaine slowly and carefully blinked once and felt grateful he could answer yes with only one blink; the pain from moving his eyelids was still bad enough he wanted to whimper, but, if he whimpered, the pain from that would be even worse.

“Good,” Saazbaum said satisfied. “The room is nearly dark; only a small candle is lit. Your ability to see in the dark seems to function properly.”

‘ _In the dark?_ ’ the young man wondered confused. The vision of Saazbaum looked as if the room had been lit up properly; it had only looked monochrome but everything in the room had been contained in his vision.

“It will be a couple of hours more until you can move properly,” his master then continued. “Harklight will serve you blood once you are strong enough to feed on him.”

‘ _What?_ ’ the blond wondered confused.

Why would he feed on Harklight? Harklight was his servant and a friend. Why would he-?

Slaine’s thoughts halted as he remembered he and Harklight had been the same before Slaine had died; blood sacrifices. Now, their relationship had changed. According to Saazbaum’s words, Harklight seemed to have been put on the duty to be Slaine’s personal blood sacrifice.

“In the meantime, I want you to patiently wait for your body to turn flaccid again, and do not move around too much unless you are prepared to handle the pain it implies,” his master continued. “Once your body is flaccid, the curse will stop the decomposition and properly take over. If you wish, I will stay with you until then.”

Again, his words felt more like orders, as if Slaine’s mind was instantly ready to obey him.

‘ _I’m a corpse_ ,’ he thought as his situation began to sink in, in a strange way.

The knowledge of it felt like a wet shirt sticking to naked skin; unpleasant and too close for comfort. Death had been quick and unnoticeable; only the road to that moment had been frightening and tiring. Now, confusion made him feel surprisingly calm about the matter, but he feared the memory of dying would catch up to him sooner or later.

‘ _What happened?_ ’ he wondered and tried to remember back to on what he had spent his last time as a human. The imagery was fuzzy at the start as he tried to dig further back in time before his dying moment.

Slowly it began to clear and he remembered he had spent his second day of the turning process sitting in the chair in the room where Lemrina had begun to paint his image onto the canvas. The cursed princess had tirelessly been painting and trying to capture the image of who Slaine had been that day when they had begun to construct the painting. She had said she only needed to know where the shadows and light landed on his face and clothes, which had given Slaine the opportunity to sit still and rest while the curse was eating away at him.

Only later that night had he traced the corridors that led to the room where his sleeping beloved was kept during their revisit to the capital, and crawled down in bed with the undead cursed girl. There he had fallen asleep, holding her hand for support and found comfort in suffering alone, and there he had been found the next day when he had been near death; his death rattle had already started early in the morning before the sun had gone up on the other side of the heavy curtains.

Death had been disorienting, and, now that it was over, it felt like a strange dream, which he could not comprehend.

‘ _Why … isn’t it more frightening than this?_ ’ he wondered confused.

†††

“You remember those mangas I and Okojo used to read?” Calm asked and turned a card face up on the table.

A three of spades.

“Yes. You used to race who had the most of those mecha mangas,” Inaho answered and turned one of his cards face up on the middle of the table.

A six of hearts.

“It feels like it was ages ago, but in reality it’s been barely two years. Time sure is a strange thing. Our time with Okojo and the battle we will face tomorrow feels like two entirely different places on a map,” the westerner said with a frown and turned a card face up on the table again.

A king of spades.

Calm was nearly fooled by the card and already raised his hand to slap it before Inaho could, but then recognized it was a king and not a jack. The other was taking the game more seriously than Inaho.

“I wonder how the vampires perceive time,” he then continued.

“It’s just bricks,” the brunet answered and turned a card up on the table. A five of diamonds. Calm looked up at him with a confused frown, and Inaho continued: “I read once that each minute, hour, day, month, birthday and New Year’s Eve is just another brick to a house that we build around us. We humans like to surround us with walls to make us feel safe, and so we do that with time as well without realizing we are restricting ourselves, waiting for our right moment to act since it’s comfortable that way. The vampires are stepping through the walls of those houses; they are striking their own time wherever they are. Any time is the right time for them, which makes them dangerous.”

Clam did not pick up the card on top of his part of the card deck. Instead he stared at Inaho with bafflement and seemed to have forgotten how to breathe. The canteen where they sat was still lively enough Inaho could not make out the sound of his friend’s breaths through the muddy lump of noise around them to make sure he did not need to remind his friend to breathe.

After a while of staring at each other, Calm slowly raised a card from his half of the deck and turned a card face up on the table.

An eight of clubs.

“In other words, they don’t wait for opportunities and right moments; they make them. That was pretty philosophical of you. I’m surprised,” the westerner then said.

“A proper philosopher said that, not me,” the half-human said and raised a card to put it face up on the table. “I can’t remember their name, though. Not that it matters.”

A jack of hearts.

Both Calm and Inaho quickly raised their hands to slam the jack of hearts, and – for once – Clam was the first one to slam the card since he was dead serious about winning. Inaho slammed the back of the other’s hand by accident instead and the westerner’s face turned completely red. This time Inaho was sure he held his breath to not scream.

The brunet pulled his hand away from on top of Calm’s.

“I’m sorry. I guess I’m not entirely in control of my strength and swiftness when combined yet,” Inaho said and looked at his own hand and then at Calm’s that had turned red from irritation.

“Ooowww…!” the boy complained with a strained voice and got tears in his eyes. “God damn, that hurts!”

“At least you won,” a chuckle was heard from the direction of the door into the canteen. Rayet was approaching; Inaho did not even need to look up to know it was her. “Slapjack with only two players?” she then asked and sat down next to Calm and grinned as she watched him flap his hand in an attempt to shake the pain away. “It looks like a wild game where anything can happen.”

“Oh, shut up,” Calm grumbled and hissed from between his teeth at the pain in his hand.

“Sarcasm?” Inaho asked the cursed girl, who nodded with a smile:

“Yep.”

“Thought so,” the brunet then murmured and began collecting the cards to shuffle them.

“So, how are you feeling about tomorrow?” Rayet asked and looked at the boys. “We’re arriving to the battle tomorrow evening.”

Calm went silent and got a sullen look on his face, and Inaho continued shuffling the cards before he dealt them out evenly between them.

“I’m tired of waiting,” Inaho said and counted his cards.

“Eager to strike your own time, huh?” Calm asked and began collecting the cards Inaho was dealing out to him. Rayet looked between them and the boy continued, explaining and asked: “Our half-human friend here said something interesting about vampires and time. How do you perceive time, Rayet?”

The red-haired girl collected her cards as well and thought for a bit, before she answered:

“Before I died I thought time was a solid thing – a straight line we all walked on and that things happened when they needed to happen.” She put her patch of cards in a neat stack before her on the table. “After I died, however, I realized the time I had believed in meant nothing to me and things could happen in the middle of my story if I wanted them to. In short, I don’t need to think about time.”

Calm nodded to Inaho as if commemorating his previous words as they seemed to be true.

“You just proved this dude’s theory,” Calm said and explained to Rayet what Inaho had said moments before she had come into the canteen.

“Was that what you decided to talk about while playing Slapjack?” Rayet asked surprised, but Calm shook his head and put out the first card onto the table.

A two of clubs.

“No. Actually, we trailed off to that from me talking about our friend who we lost in Shinawara,” he said and then nodded to Rayet to put out a card.

“Oh? Okisuke, was it?” she asked and raised a card. “Were you talking about memories of him?”

Her card was a seven of diamonds.

“We talked about how Calm and Okisuke used to race about who owned the most manga,” Inaho explained and put a card onto the table.

A queen of spades.

“Yeah. We were obsessed with mecha manga,” Calm said with a smile and put out his card.

No jack this time either.

“You like mecha?” Rayet asked surprised as it was her turn.

A nine of spades.

“Who doesn’t?!” the boy exclaimed. “I would have loved to kick some vampire ass with a mecha robot with super powers!”

Inaho turned his card while his friend looked excited from probably imagining him being a hero on a battlefield somewhere. His card was no jack either.

“Really?” Rayet chuckled and watched Calm turn his card. “If you had one, what would you name it?”

A king of hearts.

“Name?” the boy thought for himself. “Hm… Probably Sleipnir; the best of horses according to Norse mythology!”

Rayet chuckled and turned her card, and all three attacked the card immediately; it was a jack of diamonds. Inaho won that round.

“Odin’s horse,” the brunet then said and took the pile they had created on the table and began shuffling it to add the cards to his deck. “I think that horse was born from Loki, was it not?”

Calm nodded.

“Yeah. During the building of Asgard, the master builder and giant said that he would only build it with the aid of his own horse Svadilfari, and – if he managed to finish in time – he would be paid with Freyja; the sun and moon,” Calm said with an important look on his face – aware that he had a moment to shine with his knowledge. “Loki acted to save Freyja and turned himself into a mare and seduced the master builder’s horse to delay the construction and make it exceed the deadline. He later gave birth to an eight-legged foal; Sleipnir.”

“Loki?” Rayet asked as the game continued. “He sounds like a trusty guy for doing something like that for Freyja.”

Calm stared at her with wide eyes. Even Inaho felt surprised to hear something that mythologically outrageous.

“Trusting Loki would be a really bad decision,” Inaho said and turned a card. No jack. “He is known as the trickster in Norse mythology.”

Calm turned a card. No jack.

“Yeah,” the westerner said. “He’s not entirely a bad guy since he has his good moments, too. He isn’t a god, but he lives among them and is counted as one of them, such as Odin, Thor and Baldr among others. I’m not sure why. According to the stories, he sometimes worked with them and sometimes he was really malicious toward them. He’s a shapeshifter and a really bad company; you’re not supposed to trust him no matter how nice he might seem.”

Rayet turned one of her cards, but no jack either.

Inaho felt a bad feeling writhe in his guts. He disliked the topic of their discussion.

“What makes him so special then?” she asked and looked at Inaho and Calm with the question in her gaze.

“He is the reason to Ragnarök to happen; the end of the world,” Inaho said and turned a card while feeling somewhat downhearted.

“He engineered the death of one of the gods, which will lead to Ragnarök in the future,” Calm said as Inaho was too curt with his explanation. “He will fight against the gods along with the giants once Ragnarök comes, and will slay and be slain by a god called Heimdallr, who keeps an eye on the arrival of Ragnarök.”

“Sounds like a complicated guy now that you put it out like that,” Rayet said as Calm turned a card. No jack. “He lives among the gods even if he’s not one of them, works with them and against them, tricks people and is a shapeshifter who will bring the end of the world.”

Calm chuckled.

“He’s quite insane really,” he said. “Perhaps that was why he was such a trickster and disloyal to everyone?”

“Or maybe,” Inaho said and the other two turned to look at him. The brunet frowned as the image of the one he loved floated in his mind. “He was crazy and disloyal because he had his personal objectives to tend to regardless of his affiliation?”

†††

The door opened and shed a pathway of artificial light across the floor and a wheelchair was rolled into the dark room. The shadow appearing in the doorway obscured the light from the living room outside and cast darkness where the illuminated light had ruled moments earlier.

He had heard the wheels spinning and the steps walking from a long distance away, and he had immediately recognized them as Eddelrittuo’s and Lemrina’s. Once entering the room, Eddelrittuo had stayed in the living room and only the sound of the wheelchair had entered the bedroom where the young vampire was occupying the bed.

The breathing of a human was heard in the other room; Harklight had slumped down onto the couch after serving Slaine his first patch of blood as the blond cursed vassal had accidentally taken a little too much; he had left the blood sacrifice in a weakened state. The handmaiden’s voice was then making the human’s breaths company, wondering if the servant was feeling all right and if he needed somethings that she could get him.

Slaine had learned to filter the breathing sound of his servant away after a while of training his hearing; he had grown used to that particular sound as Harklight had fallen into an exhausted sleep. Instead, the young vampire was sitting in the bed, focusing his sight and hearing on the wall before him rather than looking behind him to greet the cursed princess who had entered the room. He preferred staring at the tapestry, feeling mesmerized and tremendously fascinated as his mind reacted to what his senses snatched up from the wall.

He was more aware than ever of his own presence and surroundings. His instincts were stronger and his senses superhumanly heightened. It was so new that it was eerie; he could not hear or feel his pulse, which allowed the silence around him to become clearer. He had no other needs to look out for anymore except the empty hunger for blood and protect himself from the burning sun.

“Sir Troyard?” he heard Lemrina say carefully.

Her voice sounded hesitating.

“Your Highness,” Slaine answered quietly while still staring intently at the wall, not giving the cursed girl more attention than he could spare.

“What are you doing?” she asked and came closer, but stopped in the middle of the bedroom when Slaine raised a hand to silently ask her to stop. Her movements and speech distracted his concentration directed toward the wall.

Ever since Slaine had woken up and been released from the rigor mortis Lemrina had been careful around him. In a way, Slaine got the feeling she was somewhat frightened of him. It was a completely new experience to him since she had mostly always been the one to act like a superior around Slaine and the servants. Now, something had changed in the air around her whenever Slaine was close by. To Slaine it felt dangerous. He somehow got the feeling he now had the upper hand in their relationship since she offered him more space than before, and he found it empowering – perhaps a little too much so.

“I never thought a vampire’s hearing was this sensitive,” the young vampire said with a whisper as he forgot to take a proper breath to speak. “The walls are breathing.”

“Breathing?” Lemrina asked confused and waited while Slaine tilted his head to change the angle of his hearing to listen to the quiet sound he heard from the wall before him.

“Since I have not learned to filter sounds yet, I can hear the wood react to the moisture and temperature,” the blond cursed creature said silently. His voice was emotionless and a mere gasp since he was so occupied with listening to the wall that he forgot to put strength and emotion into his voice. “And I can hear the faint voices of others in other rooms, as if the vibrations of sound are traveling through the palace framework.”

“I hear nothing. Sir Troyard, are you sure you truly hear what you hear?” the cursed princess asked hesitatingly.

Again, she sounded careful. It was as if she expected Slaine to attack her if she said or did something he thought was out of line, and she was unsure of when she would step outside of that line, making her wary and aware of his reactions.

Slaine turned around on the bed and looked at her, and Lemrina stiffened.

The young cursed man was still naked with nothing but a bed sheet around him since the fabric of the uniform he was supposed to wear had distracted his sense of touch and overwhelmed him severely. Even the sheet around him was agonizing in its own subtle way, but he could handle it since its fibers were softer than the uniform’s, and he had slowly begun to get used to the sensation. He could feel every thread in the bed sheet touching his skin. It was strange and shocking at first, but, according to Saazbaum, he would soon learn how to filter that away as well – just like with his other senses.

The blond vampire studied the cursed girl without blinking. He had a question he wanted to ask her, but the image of her was slightly more interesting at the moment as he was given the opportunity to test his sight on her. Lemrina seemed to want to cower away from his inspecting glare, but she bravely looked back at him and let him study her.

Slaine was taken aback by how detailed his vision was: The individual strands of her hair… The eyelashes and the dilation of her pupils… The texture of her skin and dress… The soft wrinkles on her plump lips… He saw all of it with such clarity and focus it fascinated him and made him want to look at her more, but he felt he had to state his question quickly before she would get the wrong idea of him studying her so closely:

“What generation are you?” he asked silently. Lemrina turned her gaze away immediately, making it clear Slaine’s suspicion of her generation was true. “Saazbaum and you have never told me about your generation, and it is quite hard to see since you are in need of a wheelchair; your movements are restricted.” Lemrina’s eyebrows furrowed as she kept looking away as if she was ashamed of something. “Are you of a younger generation than me perhaps, my princess?” he finally asked and watched Lemrina sigh heavily.

So, it was true. He had found it odd how she behaved around him now that he had woken up as a cursed creature, and – as he had been reminded of him being of third generation – he had begun wondering what generation the cursed princess was. Was it usual for those of newer generation to behave the way she did around him when close to an older generation vampire?

Slaine had only seen that behavior as a normal relationship between a soldier and their superior since he had only seen the cursed nation’s military in detail. As a human he could not possibly have understood the nature of the undead corpses. Now, however, he wondered if Lemrina’s behavior was instinctive rather than something she decided upon herself, and the more instincts ruled over a cursed creature, the younger generation they were.

“My mother,” the cursed girl said quietly. “She was cursed by a fifth generation baroness when I was around ten years of age.”

Slaine immediately felt shocked; if Lemrina’s mother was the one who had cursed her, it meant Lemrina was of seventh generation.

‘ _You’re considered a commoner_ ,’ he thought surprised and studied her closely as she continued explaining:

“Once my mother turned, she still tried to take care of me and let me age,” the cursed girl said. “Only twice did she attack me when her hunger became severe when trying to starve herself to hide the fact that a cursed creature was living in the small town where we were hiding from my father.” Lemrina sat with her back straight and hands resting on the armrests of her wheelchair, and suddenly she looked older than the body she owned. “I got a viral infection when I was fifteen years old, and, right after I started to get well again, I was struck by a horrible fever. Along with many other symptoms, I got numbness and tingles in my legs, as if I was losing sensation, and my muscles gave me severe pain. A doctor suspected I had gotten an autoimmune disorder called Guillain-Barré syndrome, in which my own immune system began to attack my nervous system, and it did so rapidly. The problem was that we were very poor.”

As the cursed princess made a pause, Slaine had already put the puzzle pieces together, and said:

“And, since your mother had no money for the treatment, she cursed you with hopes of stopping the process of this disorder?”

Lemrina nodded and looked up at the newly cursed man with a serious look on her face.

“She hoped the curse would save me from losing my ability to function normally. Luckily, it stopped the immune system from causing any more damage, but the little damage it had already done remained even with the curse.” She sighed. “You see, the state you die in is the state you will live in when undead. The curse will not heal damage done to you before you are cursed. Only if the damage occurs in a cursed body will it regenerate and heal once their host has gotten blood.”

So that was why she could only walk with the aid of blood; her nerves were not destroyed but they were weak enough she could not walk on her own. Her mother had tried to save her by gifting her the curse and, in a way, succeeded. Regretfully, her hopes of restoring her daughter’s ability to walk had resulted in a failure.

The cursed princess and the cursed vassal stared at each other for a while as neither of them knew what to say. Slaine found sympathy somewhere in a corner of his silent heart but chose not to say a word. Instead, Lemrina nodded toward Slaine’s chest:

“Your heart disorder will not cause you any more pain,” she continued. “Since you have no use for a heart now that you have been cursed, it will not ache or threaten to kill you. Unluckily, I need my legs and the nerves in them even when cursed.”

“I … see,” the cursed vassal mumbled and fell into deep thought.

The knowledge of her being of seventh generation worried the blond young man. Why on earth had Saazbaum chosen to make her into the future queen of Vers? A seventh generation was a civilian or an expendable soldier. The nation would not listen to her.

‘ _Unless…_ ’ Slaine thought and frowned. ‘ _Unless Saazbaum intended me to balance it out by making me into a third generation vampire_.’

Up until now, Slaine had known he would become a third generation vampire since Saazbaum had told him he would be the one to curse the human young man, but he had not thought that his generation would be much different from Lemrina’s. Slaine would become a commander under Saazbaum’s name, and Lemrina was of the same lineage as the royal family. A commander and a princess… It had been a perfect combination.

However, the more Slaine thought about the sudden knowledge of Lemrina’s generation, the more he now suspected Saazbaum would use that as a third way to curry favor the civilians of the cursed nation, since a large majority in Vers consisted of young generation vampires. By having Lemrina – of seventh generation – marry Slaine – of third generation – Saazbaum could please a larger quantity of the nation’s population and win them over on his side once he was to overthrow the elite noblesse.

 _“The citizens are the true power of a nation; a couple of elitists will not stand a chance against an angry mob of civilians_ ,” the man had once told when teaching Slaine about his plan.

‘ _Elitists…_ ’ Slaine thought and felt a bad taste spread in his mouth the moment he realized he had become one of them. He did not wear a burgundy suit but he was of the same generation as Cruhteo and many other proud counts and countesses. He was even of the same generation as Asseylum. ‘ _Will Saazbaum dress me up in a count’s uniform?_ ’ Slaine wondered.

There was one flaw in Saazbaum’s tactic if it was true: With the marriage between a third and seventh generation vampire, Saazbaum would tear down the entire cursed society’s structure; the generations would not matter anymore. It would lead to chaos and needed a strong hand to direct all that chaos toward the right path. Did Saazbaum – the one who was going to rule the nation as a prime minister – have such faith in himself? Did the cursed count believe he would be able to handle such chaos?

‘ _He’s got a lot of experience. Perhaps he would do a good enough job and get the nation to run down the right river bed…_ ’ the blond thought.

As if fate knew he was thinking about the devil himself, Saazbaum’s steps were heard in the corridor outside the royal living quarter. Slaine seemed to notice it much sooner than Lemrina. He looked up at the direction where the steps were sounding from and Lemrina tilted her head with confusion before looking over her shoulder, and only then realized Saazbaum was approaching.

The moment the cursed count entered the room, he looked at Slaine and Lemrina with a satisfied smile as if he enjoyed seeing them together – just like he always did.

“It has been five hours since you were released from the rigor mortis. How are you feeling, Slaine?” the young vampire heard his cursed adoptive father say.

Slaine stared at him in silence as he was overwhelmed by the detailed image of the one who had taken his humanity away from him. Every person Slaine saw and was supposed to know looked different now that he was cursed. Harklight, Lemrina, Eddelrittuo and Saazbaum… They all were still the same but, at the same time, they were completely different.

‘ _I’ve still yet to see myself and Asseylum_ ,’ he thought while staring at his supposed father, who narrowed his eyes slightly when looking back at Slaine.

“I do not appreciate that look in your eyes, boy,” he said with a lower voice, warning Slaine.

“Look, father?” Slaine asked and kept staring at him, not really understanding what the cursed count meant.

“A dangerous look,” Saazbaum explained. “Are your thoughts telling you to be mad at me, who cursed you so suddenly?”

‘ _I would have been mad at you either way…_ ’ the blond thought before he decided to soften the harsh expression he probably wore, and smiled.

“Forgive me, father,” he said. “I am trying to understand my new body, and this sight of mine is baffling me each time I rest my eyes on familiar faces, since no one looks the same as I remember them from when I was human.”

Saazbaum watched him carefully for a moment, trying to determine if what Slaine told was emotionally true or not, but then seemed to accept it. He smiled as well.

“It is understandable. Just be aware of your expression, which may cause you trouble. Have you taken the opportunity to walk yet?” the cursed count asked, and Slaine tilted his head while staring at him again.

Now that he thought about it, even Saazbaum’s voice was somewhat different. Lemrina’s had sounded different as well; he could hear the air seep out from their throats as they spoke, and he knew he had to learn how to filter the sounds around him in order to be able to function somewhat normally once he was let out of the room.

‘ _Whatever normal means for a vampire_ …’ he thought.

Saazbaum chuckled at seeing Slaine’s reaction when the young vampire seemed to realize even their voices were different, and said:

“You look like a curious wolf when you change the angle of your hearing like that.”

‘ _A wolf…_ ’ the blond thought. ‘ _Someone who needs a pack leader – if they won’t take the alpha role for themselves_.’

Lemrina seemed to get some of her courage back now that her guardian stood next to her. She giggled at hearing Saazbaum comment on Slaine’s behavior and appearance, and said amused:

“The curse becomes you, Sir Saazbaum Troyard. A silver-coated wolf is what you are now.”

Perhaps Slaine took their words a little too much to heart, but they had no idea what they were telling him and what thoughts they put in his mind. Something was brewing inside his dead heart, and it boiled each time he was called a wolf.

“I wonder if I will start howling and growling as well,” he said jokingly to match their mood and not alarm them of whatever was happening in him.

“Now that would be terrifying,” Lemrina said smiling and looked relieved that Slaine was slowly coming back to his previous self.

Saazbaum smiled wryly – noticing something was off with the young vampire – but did not remark on this. Instead, he encouraged Slaine to test out the strength in his legs, and, when Slaine pulled the bed sheet tightly around him and stood up from the bed, he felt the power course through his body. It was like a river that had breached a dam, flowing so violently through him he was spooked by the strength he had – giving him goosebumps. When he took a couple of steps, he felt as if he was floating rather than walking. Gravity was of no match for him; his entire body was so strong he did not even feel the gravity pull at him. Only his feet that touched the floor felt it.

“How does your new body feel?” the cursed count asked as he watched Slaine grow shocked.

The young vampire looked up at his cursed father with the same dangerous look Saazbaum had warned him about; the cursed man immediately let Slaine know about it, and the blond quickly blinked it away and forced his facial expression to soften.

“It feels overwhelming,” he said astounded and took another step. He nearly forgot to breathe in air in order to continued speaking, making him sound breathless: “I feel as light as a feather but as strong as a bear.”

“And you will find that you are even stronger than a bear,” Saazbaum said amused. “You are a third generation vampire after all.” Then his expression turned serious again and he stared at Slaine with a warning look once more: “Be sure to direct that strength toward those who deserve to face it.”

Slaine wanted to see a mirror. He wanted to know why Saazbaum suspected him to be mad at him and referred to his expression each time he warned the blond cursed man. The curiosity burned to hotly he forgot about his fear of seeing his own reflection look back at him from a mirror. He needed to understand what look he had.

“Worry not, father,” he said instead and looked at Lemrina with something he hoped was a gentle smile. “I am fully aware of what my duty is.” He walked closer to the cursed princess, who stared at him with hesitation and watched him carefully when he slowly knelt before her and took her hand into his. “Your wish has come true, Your Highness. Now, my youth will forever be yours.”

Lemrina held back an impulse to pull her hand away from him. She was frightened of him and his touch seemed to make her skin crawl. To have him cursed was what she had been waiting for, for a long time. She had begged Saazbaum to hurry up and curse him so she could have him as her own; they would only marry after Slaine had been made into a commander and been cursed. Now, he was a vampire but was yet to be made into a commander. Why was she not happy? They were one step closer to sealing his fate, chaining him to her.

‘ _Because chaining a wolf would be a bad idea_ ,’ he concluded.

“Once you have become comfortable in your new body, you will be sent out on a mission, Slaine,” the cursed count said. “I will accompany you when you sail out in Vers’s first submarine mission in a long time.”

The blond looked up at his father with surprise.

“They agreed to my plan?” he asked, and Saazbaum nodded.

“The arguments were heated, but the majority voted in your favor,” the cursed count said and turned to leave. “Make use of your spare time now, Slaine. Once you are used to your new senses and instincts, you will begin serving our nation as a Versian commander.”

The moment the cursed count left and disappeared, Slaine stood up and let go of Lemrina’s hand – forgetting about her momentarily. Instead, without even throwing a glance at her, he hurried to the bathroom and refrained from turning on the lights to protect his still light-sensitive eyes, and looked at the monochrome reflection of himself.

His eyes were wide awake; the reflection looked back at him with an eerie awareness in them, like a predator that had caught its prey in its sight; a hyper focused stare. Was this the look Saazbaum warned him about? Was this the look that made Lemrina feel nervous around him? Had he been looking at them like a hunter watching its prey?

‘ _What am I?_ ’ he wondered and raised a hand to touch his lips. Needle-like fangs peeked out from beneath his upper lip as he pushed it up just slightly on the right side of his mouth, and he wondered when they had grown out. ‘ _Who am I hunting?_ ’

He had to admit something had changed in him after he had begun to wrap his mind around the fact that he had died once and was now a living corpse that fed on the life-force of others. The strength that flowed through him added fuel to the nameless fire that had begun burning after the moment of death. He knew he was supposed to serve Saazbaum and Lemrina even when cursed, but now that thought felt unsettling.

‘ _I don’t like to be caged anymore…_ ’

The strength made him feel drunk with power, and death had made him care less about the human called Slaine Troyard and his objectives. The only thing that still remained for sure was his devotion for the sleeping cursed princess. The loyalty to his supposed father Saazbaum was dying; he had betrayed Slaine by cursing him so suddenly, and he had been the reason why this maddening war had begun in the first place. The gentleness he had had with Lemrina was fading; he did not want to belong to her anymore.

‘ _Do I have the power now to change all that?_ ’

“Slaine?” a careful voice asked, and the young vampire turned to look at the cursed princess watching him carefully from outside the bathroom door opening.

“Are you afraid of me?” Slaine asked and slowly turned his entire body toward her.

She seemed to want to back away immediately but bravely stood her ground.

“Of course not,” she said and sharpened her gaze, warning him just like Saazbaum had done. “I have a leash around your neck, and I know you are aware of this.”

Slaine looked at the mirror image of his new self again and took a breath to say:

“One of the two caged birds became a wolf, and now the remaining bird is afraid of being eaten.” He looked at her again and she seemed to still her breath from fright. He was looking at her with the eyes of a predator again. “Fear not, my princess and my dearest future fiancé and wife. I will not eat you.”

“Slaine,” she began to say once she gathered her courage. “I love you…”

‘ _You think that will calm me and make me yours? Do you expect me to be yours out of gratitude for loving me?_ ’ Slaine thought and stared at her watching him.

“I really do,” she then whispered. “Stay the way you were; the warm and gentle Slaine. Please, do not look at me with those cold eyes.”

“I am not the one I was,” Slaine said and Lemrina nodded.

“I know, but only with me – please be the kind Slaine Troyard only with me,” she begged. “If you have forgotten, I will finish the painting of you and remind you. Be the Slaine I began painting a couple of days ago. Do not let the curse destroy him.”

‘ _But he’s dead, is he not?_ ’ Slaine wondered and walked over to the cursed princess. ‘ _He was weak and frightened. I, on the other hand, am strong; I don’t need to fear you anymore. Now I can concentrate on making sure Asseylum is safe; I don’t have to protect myself anymore_.’

He leaned closer to give her cheek a kiss.

“I am not the human young man you knew,” he then whispered. “The curse killed him. You saw it happen yourself since I know you were the one to give me palliative care. You nearly drowned me with the water you fed me.”

Lemrina stiffened and Slaine walked past her, about to venture out into the living room.

“Slaine-!” she began, but he interrupted her:

“I will not eat you, Lemrina,” he said and reached out for the light switch and turned off the lights in the living room, casting total darkness around him – a darkness he still could see in. “You still have a leash around my neck, remember? I will come and share the bed with you later, my princess.”

With those words, he disappeared from the bedroom and met Eddelrittuo who had been giving Harklight water and now lit a candle standing on the living room table. The moment she turned to look at Slaine, she stiffened and dared not to say a word.

The blood sacrifice still looked exhausted, and Slaine frowned as he saw the human young man look up at him with a tired gaze.

“My lord…” Harklight said quietly, and Slaine shook his head and hurried up to him.

“There is no need for you to speak,” he said quietly. “Forgive me for being greedy and taking too much blood from you. You should rest.”

Harklight smiled and said quietly:

“Do not worry, my lord. It was your first time; it was expected. I feel fine despite all that. Miss Eddelrittuo will prepare a blood transfusion for me.”

“May I accompany you for a while?” the cursed young man asked and stared at the blood sacrifice, who frowned confused and nodded.

“Yes, if you so wish, my lord. May I ask why?”

“I want your warmth,” the young vampire requested bluntly and then asked Eddelrittuo to hurry and prepare the blood transfusion.

She cowered the moment he turned toward her, and – for the first time since he woke up from the dead – he became aware of his solitude; even the handmaiden was afraid of him; the girl who had been his friend this far.

‘ _Am I that frightening that even you want to hide from me?_ ’ Slaine wondered, not grasping why everyone were wary of him except Harklight.

After the handmaiden obeyed and hurried out of the royal living quarters to get the supplies needed for the transfusion, Slaine gently pushed the servant to lie down on the couch and crawled up on top of him, still wrapped in the bed linen to protect his sensitive sense of touch. He rested his entire body on top of the human, with his ear against the young man’s chest to listen to his life, and the warmth made him shudder.

A human was burning hot when a cold cursed creature touched them and Slaine could understand why Trillram had wanted him to keep him warm throughout the night during Slaine’s first mission as a blood sacrifice. That moment felt so long ago – that terrifying moment in Shinawara.

That moment that did not matter anymore.

The servant’s warmth felt so good the young vampire unintentionally clawed at Harklight’s shoulders – feeling every fiber of the uniform scratch against his fingertips – and the human gasped from pain.

“M-my lord,” he said with a strained voice. “That hurts.”

Slaine looked up at him surprised and released his greedy fingers from the human’s shoulders. He had not been aware of how strongly he had clawed at the other. He apologized and rested his head against the young man’s chest once more to listen to the heart beat inside him.

“Let me lie here for a while to warm up,” the cursed blond said quietly, staring at the monochrome bedroom doorway where Lemrina stared back at him with a pained expression, before she disappeared into the bedroom after closing the door.

‘ _I can hear her crying_ ,’ the blond thought and closed his eyes – frowning from cold hearted sympathy. ‘ _I’m sorry, Lemrina, but I did warn you; I’ll just hurt you. Now you have learned your lesson_.’

“Of course, master,” the servant answered and put his arms around the cursed vassal, sending a shiver down Slaine’s undead spine. “My heat is all yours.”

‘ _That’s what he told me, too, back in Borneo_ ,’ Slaine thought and remembered Orange’s warm and gentle hands and lips. ‘ _I wonder how he would feel like now… Would he feel even hotter now than before?_ ’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my...! Is Count Troyard announcing his arrival, perhaps? (O.O)
> 
> I also know Inaho was the one to use a mecha called Sleipnir and not Calm, but since my story is a little different (pfft! "a little"?) from the anime, I decided to let Calm still flash with his Norse mythology knowledge since I believe the anime-he should know Inaho's kataphrakt inside and out (since he clearly has a similar position in the anime as a plane captain has on board a carrier) and be aware of the name Sleipnir. So him wanting to name his mecha "Sleipnir" is a little way for me to honor the brief Norse mythology used in the anime, since my story is influenced a little by Greek mythology as well (and I've always thought of Slaine as some kind of Loki so I reeeeally wanted to put that in there).
> 
> Also, I hope Lemrina got a little more background to her now and makes her a little more alive after the revelation of her past. Sorry it took some time, but I really could not reveal it earlier than this.


	26. Toll for the Cursed 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for a little delay! I had to study a lot to be able to put this chapter and future chapters together, which took a lot of my writing time, and life got in the way in the middle of all this. I hope you enjoy!

“ _Two of the enemy destroyers are down!_ ”

“ _Our cruiser is hit!_ ”

“ _Both Gatling guns on enemy carrier disabled! Concentrate your fire on the enemy amphibious ship!_ ”

‘ _It’s only one fleet. We should be able to take it down_ ,’ the brunet thought as he made himself ready along with Rayet while waiting for the transport to get clearance to lift. The helicopter they sat in was warming up its engines while the airspace was a burning mess at the current moment after all the aircraft on the aircraft carriers on both sides had taken off, and the sky had been so for nearly an hour now with both UN and enemy aircrafts polluting the air with debris and noise. ‘ _All we need to do is to wait for the submarines to-_ ‘

Something moved in the corner of his vision – far out at sea – and he turned his burgundy eye to inspect what had emerged from behind the horizon. A white missile was flying toward the enemy – launched from below the sea – an anti-ship missile – and its rocket booster was burning hotly behind it as it cruised close to sea level, skimming just a couple of meters above the water to avoid radar and infrared detection.

Apparently the enemy ships were damaged enough the decision of launching a Harpoon missile from the Australian Collins-class submarine had been made under the hope for it to arrive to its destination without being shot down. The enemy aircraft carrier had no guns to protect it from the attacking missile anymore, and the enemy destroyers were down and the amphibious assault ship was under attack; nothing would hopefully protect the Versian aircraft carrier from the missile.

‘ _There we go_ ,’ the brunet thought satisfied as he released it with his gaze to make sure his gear was strapped down to his utility belt and that the pockets to his orange overall was tightly sealed.

Rayet had noticed it as well; she turned her helmet-covered head to look at the missile that was cruising toward the enemy aircraft carrier.

“What about the other subs?” she asked with her voice loud enough it could be heard over the loud noise around them.

Inaho turned on the throat microphone and headset, and signed for her to do the same to avoid exerting their voices in the noise-polluted area.

“I think they are preparing to launch their torpedoes as we speak,” he answered. “Just care about our mission of hunting down the count, and trust the others with their duties.”

Rayet scoffed nervously.

“ _That’s a calming thing to say in a situation like this_ ,” she answered with her voice sounding from the headset in Inaho’s ear.

“It would be unwise of me to say anything but calming things in this situation. Just trust them. We’ll do this,” Inaho assured her with false hope. In honesty, he had no idea how things would turn out, but he wanted to believe this battle was to turn the tables in their favor. “Let’s find the count and end this.”

As he said that, a sudden loud explosion shook the proximity and a large puff of smoke and fire erupted from the side of the large enemy aircraft carrier. A shockwave sent visible ripples resembling waves across the sea surface and, a moment later, another explosion shook the air as if something had blown up inside the ship and the flight deck of the carrier was forcefully bent up like a cat arching its back. After the flight deck had fallen back, below surface level another loud explosion sent water spraying along with smoke after a torpedo had hit the carrier. Soon a second torpedo hit the hull, and then a third, and they kept coming until eight torpedoes had hit the aircraft carrier.

The submarines were going in for the kill, brutally attacking the busy ship with all of their firepower.

The rotor in the helicopter began turning faster and the pilot announced they had been ordered for liftoff. Inaho and Rayet would be transported to the enemy aircraft carrier V.E.S. Ravielus now that it had been determined to be damaged enough that its state would allow Inaho and Rayet to invade it without too much difficulty. However, the risk of death was still there; the aircraft carrier was a floating cursed city after all, but the chaos on board the sinking ship would mean fewer enemies trying to intercept Inaho’s and Rayet’s path of finding the count hiding on board in an attempt to capture the fleet’s admiral.

Now that the mobile airport was sentenced to sink to the bottom of the ocean, the Versian aircrafts that had been launched had nowhere to land but on the coastal areas of Australia that was still under UN’s and the human rebels’ control. The ground troops would take it from there.

The rotorcraft ascended and flew low to avoid as much detection as possible. The aircrafts were fighting far up in the sky and no enemy seemed to even think the thought of attacking the helicopter; it flew quickly toward the burning and sinking V.E.S. Ravielus and arrived safely.

Inaho and Rayet jumped off of the helicopter before it returned to Deucalion. The chaos on board the deck was overwhelming Inaho’s senses; the smell of burning materials was acrid and stung his nostrils, the pavement on the deck was crackled and a large hole gaped closer to the aft – spewing black smoke and fire like a gate to Gehenna. Body parts lay across the deck and cursed soldiers were running out of the doors in the superstructure in such panic they had seemingly forgotten that it was in the middle of the day, close to the Equator where the sun shone bright. They began instantly sizzling from the sun and soon caught fire.

“ _This is like hell on earth!_ ” Rayet said in Inaho’s headset. She sounded as if the sight made her gag; something Inaho could sympathize with – perhaps a little too much since he felt sick as well. “ _Instead of going down with the ship, they burn up in the sun!_ ”

“I think plenty of others are hiding on board, too frightened to do anything now that the ship is sinking,” the brunet answered and began running down the severely broken flight deck. “While others are still collected and will probably be our enemies on board. Be careful.”

Both of them ran down the flight deck toward the superstructure while zigzagging through the panicked cursed crewmembers that paid no mind to the two UN soldiers. Them panicking like this was a sign of how poorly trained they were; a drilled soldier would stay calm enough to know what to do in a situation like this and the amount of cursed soldiers trying to run away from the sinking ship was too big for a properly functional military. Everyone was trying to save themselves from the fear of getting trapped inside the ship and experience a slow and agonizing demise only cursed creatures could be doomed to live through; rotting away in a dark compartment filled with cold water could be nothing but a nightmare.

‘ _It’s understandable that they’re terrified of that kind of fate, but they’re supposed to be soldiers_ ,’ the brunet thought while running next to his team member.

As they came closer to the superstructure they quickly noticed it was impossible to get inside it. Too many soldiers were pushing up through the doors and black smoke emitted from inside the ship; it was burning severely from the missile attack.

“ _Some ammunition must have blown up in the hit_ ,” Rayet said and backed away and turned her face toward the bridge. “ _He should be up there, right?_ ”

“Let’s hope there won’t be another blow,” Inaho said worried and looked around the area as he continued: “The bridge doors are probably locked and the glass and doors are strong enough to be able to withstand grenade attacks. Our only way in is through the structure itself.”

“ _But there’s a fire in there. You can’t breathe the smoke-filled air since you’re still human_ ,” he heard his teammate say.

Inaho thought quickly while he pushed panicking vampires out of his way; they were mindlessly running out onto the deck and did not see or care about anything before them.

“Rayet,” he said as an idea popped up into his mind. “Will you be able to get up onto the first deck of the superstructure and open a watertight door for me?”

“ _I’m on it!_ ” the cursed girl answered and began pushing through the crowd welling out of the superstructure.

Inaho liked that quality in Rayet; she was quick to obey commands and did not feel the slightest of hesitation the moment she thought an idea or plan was sensible; the brunet had never been fond of having to explain his tactical moves during a stressed situation, and Rayet being this trustful and willing was somewhat of a breath of fresh air. The times she disagreed with something she was sure to have everyone involved know about it. Even though she was an eighth generation vampire, she was still cocky and confident in her ability to handle situations. She had been drilled well in the past to perform like a soldier.

“Be careful!” Inaho hurried to remind her. “If there’s any fire that might threaten you, abort mission immediately.”

“ _Don’t worry!_ ” he heard as an answer a moment after Rayet disappeared in through one of the doors.

Inaho had to stay put and wait patiently next to the superstructure and keep an eye on the deck above. It was more difficult than he thought since the ship began to tilt slightly to the starboard side where the torpedoes and the missile had hit it. It was taking in water quite fast and the brunet felt a need to hurry finishing their mission on board. If they stayed on board for too long, the helicopter would not be able to pick them up, and they might get trapped inside the superstructure. Even trying to swim away would be useless since the flooding of the air-filled compartments would create a suction that would be impossible to escape from; Inaho and Rayet would risk of getting pulled into the ship by the flooding water if they jumped overboard now that it was sinking.

While the deck was panicking, and while Inaho was trying to wait as patiently as he possibly could, his attention quickly shifted to his right as a sudden movement he could not recognize from before appeared in the panicking crowd. The boy turned toward a cursed creature covered in sun protective gear. Just as he had thought; the vampires were all similar to humans when it came to situations of crisis; both species behaved the same, and, now, one of the calm and collected ones had caught Inaho’s scent and was fulfilling their duty of fighting off human enemies.

Inaho prepared himself immediately by making sure his feet were securely planted to the broken deck, and he studied the movements of the cursed creature with great care. The being’s coat told him his enemy was a viscountess; it was characteristically grey and burgundy and had a pin of a viscountess on her chest, and her form was just as feminine and beautiful as a vamp’s. What were completely eerie about her were her movements; they were slow and firm and intoxicatingly perfect; she moved like a flame.

‘ _I’m cornered next to the superstructure_ ,’ Inaho thought as he kept her under surveillance.

She turned out to be a silent killer; she did not utter a single word as the flame became a flash and dashed toward the brunet. Inaho refrained from blinking as the attacker was closing in on him in order to keep track of their movement, and, once the cursed creature was close enough, she flung out a hand gripping a knife toward the half-human boy. Inaho saw her attack coming since he was just as fast as she, but that was the problem:

‘ _She’s of fourth generation. We’re both equally fast!_ ’ he thought and jumped away from her. ‘ _I need a bigger area to fight in!_ ’

He began running through the crowd that had begun to gather on the deck. Cursed soldiers were screaming from fear and pain, burning and dashing around with sheer panic pulsating down their nerves. If Inaho could use that chaos to his advantage, it could help him delay the enemy chasing him. Once they both were out of the flow of the crowd, Inaho would not have to worry about being cornered against the superstructure, and hopefully some distance had been made between him and the viscountess so he could prepare himself for her attack.

As he had pushed through the crowd and decided the proximity was empty enough, with ears pricked up and his sight and attention on alert, he turned around toward his chaser and was surprised there was no one behind him. He knew something was off and carefully looked around the area and, before he knew it, he was attacked from his left.

Quickly, thanks to him being on edge, he managed to dodge by rolling away and got up onto his feet again, and immediately pulled out the military knife in his utility belt and went in for an attack by pushing off of the deck and leaping toward her.

‘ _Just like Rayet said; the enemy uses my blind side to attack me_ ,’ he thought and managed to land in front of her; she had taken a couple of steps back and would use the close distance between them to attack. ‘ _I need to end this quickly_.’

She began turning her body while raising her knee and prepared her body to strike a kick toward him, and Inaho – who was as fast at noticing her movements as she was at making them – backflipped away from her. Immediately when he landed, he dashed forward with knife aimed at her and tried to stab it into her throat. She countered by making a graceful twirl and tried to land a blow into Inaho’s neck the moment she had twirled behind him. The brunet dodged and turned around, building momentum to land a kick against her.

They kept canceling out each other’s attacks by evading them in perfect synchronization. They could see each other’s attacks before they landed, and they could see each other’s dodges and evasions before they were made. Attack and evade – attack and dodge. It was like a ballet of deadly assaults that seemed to have no end, until-

Due to the exhaustion of constantly trying to keep up with each other, Inaho’s mind was becoming less focused: He missed keeping an eye of his surrounding and stepped into a crack on the flight deck pavement. Shock took over for a brief moment as he found himself losing his balance, making it impossible for him to prevent himself from falling and landed with his back against the deck. The viscountess tried to use the blunder to her advantage and jumped up into the air to land a blow straight into Inaho’s chest with a sharp heel. With an as quick reaction as possible, he managed to roll aside to avoid being hit and escaped a kick directed toward him immediately after by pushing up and getting back onto his feet.

The viscountess was going at him without mercy, assaulting him like an intense fire that had raged out of control a long time ago while she waited for him to make mistakes in his defense that she could use.

The ballet continued for a while before a bang echoed somewhere behind Inaho and the viscountess was hit by a small object. She took a step back, which’s intension had been to be taken forward, and Inaho heard her voice for the first time as she grunted with shock. Whatever had happened, the half-human boy could not let this moment slip away and he hurried up to the viscountess and aimed his knife straight up beneath her chin, cutting through the strap holding her helmet in place and pushing into her skull.

The viscountess began screaming while blood gushed down Inaho’s hand and began running down his arm and wetted the sleeve to his orange uniform. Then – before the viscountess would begin struggling – he pulled her helmet off with a single smooth motion and saw her beautiful face contorted with pain and shock. Just a couple of moments went by and her skin began sizzling from the sun and blisters formed on her face before rupturing.

She began struggling violently and Inaho had to take a firm grip on her uniform to drag her toward the edge of the ship. She screamed and was in such panic her movements were uncoordinated and desperate; Inaho could quickly counter them and somehow managed to drag her to the edge of the deck, and then pushed her overboard. A strong current took a hold of her as the water was flooding into the ship, and she was sucked inside. There she would live during the oncoming days until her body was destroyed by Mother Nature.

“ _Are you all right?_ ” Rayet asked in the headset and the brunet turned around toward the superstructure and saw Rayet holding the railing on the first deck of the building with one hand, and in the other hand she carried a gun.

“Thank you,” Inaho answered and began running over to her. Rayet must have been the one who shot the viscountess. “I’m fine because of you.”

He quickly climbed up onto the superstructure’s first deck and then followed Rayet inside of the construction. They hurried up the stairs – both with their guns drawn – and found that the door leading into the bridge was open; it hung in its hinges, just slightly open and followed the slow tilt of the ship.

Without a second of hesitation, both of the UN soldiers stormed into the bridge with guns raised where alarms were screaming loud and lights were flashing in a firm pulsating pattern. Only one being stood on the bridge and stared out at the sea with a calm expression and a noble posture. The cursed count’s hands were knitted together behind his back and his head was lowered as if he admitted his defeat.

“You are under arrest, Count Ravielus!” Inaho said loud enough he could hear him while Rayet was contacting the helicopter to come and pick them up. “Don’t resist. If you do, we will have to result to violence.”

The cursed count turned his pale face toward them, looking at them from the corner of his eyes. A silent smile crept over his lips, acknowledging their presence and threat before taking a deep breath. He walked over to the bridge’s door on the port side and unlocked it.

“Sir! Stay where you are!” Inaho ordered but did not dare to pull the trigger to give the cursed count a warning shot in case the bullet would bounce off from the reinforced glass. “Come with us without a fight!”

The prideful Count Ravielus did not answer. He pushed the door open and let the sunlight into the bridge, and stepped out onto the weather deck outside. Rayet and Inaho quickly ran toward him to stop him as both of them realized the cursed count and admiral was committing suicide, but the count pulled the door closed and damaged the locking mechanism with sheer strength – preventing the two UN soldiers from running after him to stop him from his last mission.

Inaho was just about to order Rayet to run to the starboard side of the bridge and out through the door there, but the count was caught on fire by the sun as he wore no sun protective clothing, and began screaming from pain. Then he began thrashing around, pulling at his clothes and struggling against the formless enemy that scorched him, before he stumbled over the railing and fell out of sight.

Both Inaho and Rayet stood there in silence, not knowing what to say. A cursed count had taken his life after being defeated. It had never happened before.

†††

“Any crew yet?” the Versian vassal asked while eyeing the papers before him that he had stared at for three entire days while mulling over what to do.

The servant had just received a message and printed it out, and the cursed vassal was eager to hear what the message had been about.

Thick piles of paper were placed out on the table in the royal palace’s planning and operations room, where only a bronze table lamp stood on the planning table and cast a golden light around the room. The young vampire was still not used to bright lights. A large map lay beneath the lifeless occupants of the table with markings on it, marking important coastal locations. A large red circle with a small cross in a corner marked a large section on the map. It was the northern part of their nation. The small cross inside the circle marked the main base for the former Soviet’s Northern Fleet.

“Yes, sir. We have found former Soviet submariners who are serving on board various Versian Navy ships, my lord,” Harklight said and looked through the papers he held. “They have been called to Severomorsk and their journey there is being arranged. Captain Viktor Ramius – a former submarine captain – has been volunteering and has asked for his original crew to be assembled to perform this task.”

Slaine nodded while looking at the list in front of him, leaning over the table with arms apart and supported himself against them.

“History,” the cursed vassal requested without looking up at the blood sacrifice.

“He is a previous Soviet submarine captain with a service that began in the year 1967,” Harklight read out loud from the papers. “He served in the Northern Fleet as a submarine captain for twenty-six years before all the submarines in the fleet was taken out of commission. He has commanded a frigate mainly as an anti-submarine warfare combatant in the Azelein Fleet ever since then.”

“Countess Azelein is lending out some of her own people?” the cursed vassal asked curiously. “I must show her my gratitude once this is over. When was this captain cursed?” he then asked and heard Harklight flip through the papers.

The sound of the papers gently grazing against each other tickled his ears; he perceived the noise as uncomfortably loud that made a shudder threaten to run down his spine.

“Captain Ramius was cursed in 1989, my lord,” the blood sacrifice and servant answered. “He is a proud submarine captain and quite knowledgeable according to his résumé, and is eager to return to the nostalgic environment below the surface. He has experience with both diesel-electric and nuclear powered submarines.”

“Sounds like he is of the kind I would call ‘heavy artillery’,” Slaine said and looked up at Harklight. He nodded to the man’s papers. “No experience with the air-independent propulsion system?” the cursed blond asked somewhat disappointed.

“The Soviet did not build such submarines, and Vers has not had a submarine program ever since the submarine fleet was decommissioned, my lord,” the servant said somewhat surprised. “May I ask why, sir?”

Slaine looked down at a picture of a small submarine that lay in a corner on the table.

“Because I was thinking that perhaps – when we get this fleet going – we might be able to capture at least one of those Gotland-class submarines the Swedes have.” The blond then looked at the list of former Soviet submarines he had been staring at. “None of these are good enough with stealth to be able to hide from our own sonars. Even if the humans have not as good anti-submarine warfare systems as we do for natural reasons, I fear that they will begin scraping together the little resources they have once they learn we have breathed life into our submarine fleet.”

Harklight was somewhat confused:

“Forgive me, my lord, but I am not so knowledgeable about submarines. Why do you want a Gotland-class submarine?”

Slaine looked at the map at Scandinavia.

“Because,” he said and then looked at Murmansk Oblast, to where he would travel in a couple of days once the submarine crew had been put together in Severomorsk. The inlet to Murmansk Oblast was wide open at the moment. “The AIP-system is silent. The Gotland-class is the closest to us with such system, and these small submarines are mainly made for anti-ship and anti-submarine missions, surveillance, special operations and mine-laying tasks. We cannot have such enemies close to our growing borders now that Vers owns Finland and the Baltic countries, and I would like to own submarines with the stealth ability to be able to sneak close to an aircraft carrier as well.”

Slaine suspected the humans had submarines outside the coast of Vers with the mission to gather intelligence and keep the Versian marine activity under surveillance. They were not courageous enough to creep too close, however, since the humans were well aware that Vers had the world’s most advanced anti-submarine defense systems known to this day.

‘ _But those systems won’t reach far out at sea, especially beneath the arctic ice, since the former emperor did not bother to spread the systems’ network range, and no one has done that after his death either. That’s why I’m going out there; to show the Versian elitists that the enemy is lurking closer to our borders than the damn proud dogs want to admit_ ,’ he thought troubled. ‘ _That should make them give me a little more respect_.’

The door opened and Saazbaum stepped in. Both of them saluted the cursed count and admiral.

Slaine and Harklight had locked themselves up in the room for Slaine to make some difficult decisions and had stayed in there for the past three days, with Saazbaum only checking up on Slaine and his progress now and then. The blood sacrifice had assisted the newly cursed vassal with whatever needs the young vampire had, and served Slaine explicably by following the blond’s orders to the letter while willing to learn about the mission Slaine was planning. He would become a fine officer, Slaine had thought the entire time.

An exact week had passed since the vassal had been cursed. The young vampire had been eager to start with his operation and had decided to get a head start with the planning. He was nowhere near ready to get out at sea, but – as he had said it to calm his master and father Saazbaum – the crew for the submarine had to go through training anyway to freshen up their memory before the operation of hunting down the enemy submarines hiding in the waters outside Vers’s borders would be put in action; Slaine would have plenty of time to adjust himself to the new world he had woken up in. Instead of wasting time, Slaine had argued he should get as much studying done before the mission.

‘ _And because I need to get away from her…_ ’ the blond had been secretly thinking.

“How are you holding up, Slaine?” the proud cursed man asked as he stepped up to the opposite side of Slaine’s table and looked at the papers. “You have yet to decide what submarine you want?”

Slaine looked up at his supposed father and nodded.

“It requires a lot of thinking, father,” he said and watched as Saazbaum reached out a hand and took the first paper in the pile Slaine had been staring at. “I have to carefully think through what kind of sign I want to give our enemies with the boat I am going to choose. I believe I have found it but I am not entirely sure yet.”

“And what are your conclusions this far?” the cursed count asked and read through the list, not looking at the cursed vassal.

Slaine sighed and frowned, closed his eyes and ransacked his brain for all the theories he had been going through in his mind the past three days.

“If I choose a ballistic submarine, it will be perceived as a large threat by the humans. The fear for a nuclear war back in the days was truly real, hence why Soviet built submarines only for the purpose of such war. If I take out one of those boats and flaunt with it, the humans might begin dusting off their nuclear weaponry as well. However, the humans might be frightened to get close to our borders and will pull back once they know there are massive sharks in the waters,” the blond said and heard his adoptive father chuckle.

“Sharks,” he said when Slaine looked up at him, wondering why the cursed man had been chuckling. “Are you perhaps referring to the 941 Project with the world’s largest submarines? I believe they are also known by the humans as the Typhoon-class? How many do we have of them?”

Slaine pushed a smile to form on his face to give the cursed count calm, and said:

“Yes, father. Although I would appreciate if the 941 Project’s submarines are referred to by their Russian name, which is Akula, meaning ‘ _shark_ ’,” he said and warped his smile by furrowing his brows. “Even though Vers is not Russia anymore, I disapprove of using the humans’ classification names on our forces.” Then he looked at his other papers and answered: “We have five Akulas left. One was lost in the Nightfall war due to a fire on board in the torpedo room.”

The cursed count chuckled again at how sincerely Slaine spoke about the submarines that he even scolded his father for using the incorrect classification names.

“And if you choose another kind of submarine?” the cursed count then asked and put the paper back to where he had taken it, and then watched Slaine while expecting a good answer from his adoptive son; an answer he could be proud of.

“If I choose an attack submarine, it will not seem as threatening. This will spare us from building tension for a nuclear war to break out,” the young vampire said.

“Are you sure the humans will consider taking their nuclear weapons to use if we show them the Akula?” the cursed man asked.

He was checking Slaine’s sense of tactical planning.

“No,” Slaine answered frankly. “Since I cannot be sure, I will have to think they will resort to the decision to prepare for using nuclear weaponry; I should assume the worst if I am unsure of this kind of matter since being too confident when dealing with nuclear warheads is foolish.”

A proud smile spread on Saazbaum’s lips and a gleam shone in his eyes. He truly looked like a father who had heard his son say something he could be proud of for years to come. Slaine, however, did not feel joy from this cursed man being proud of him. According to him, Saazbaum had only hurt him and pushed inhumane conditions onto the boy Slaine had been not too long ago. Even if it had been according to Slaine’s own will, Slaine had still been a child and not known what it meant to sell his soul to the devil. Now, his human life had been taken away from him, and he was tightly collared in a way too short leash.

“Well answered,” his adoptive father said and urged: “Please, continue with your theories.”

“The cruise missile submarines – like the Antej – are better suited for attacks on fleets, which makes me instantly rule these out for this mission. If this mission turns out to be a success, the ballistic and cruise missile submarines will be of use once our submersible fleets have been properly restored. Right now, it would be unwise to flaunt with a power we perhaps do not have or can live up to,” he then said.

“If this mission is a success, we will get plenty of use of the Antej boats. Count Ravielus in Australia was attacked by the UN a couple of days ago, and half of his fleet went down in a submarine attack,” the cursed count said and looked tired. “The fool underestimated the UN’s submarine force, resulting in him going down with his aircraft carrier,” he then sighed and raised his eyebrows from disbelief before shaking his head.

“I heard of that. It is said the count took his life, but you – my lord – are polluting the rumors, are you not?” Slaine asked and watched Saazbaum smile.

“You are right, my youngling,” the cursed man said with a purr. “We cannot let a cursed count fall with such disgrace or our men will lose confidence in us nobles.”

“I heard it was the soldier clad in an orange uniform who was on board the count’s ship,” the blond vampire said and gritted his teeth as his body got a shudder from the phantom sensation of warm hands over his cheeks.

“Yes. It was the same child who infiltrated Tharsis a little more than one and a half year ago,” Saazbaum said and frowned. “He survived somehow and seems to have come back to fight. He harbors incredible strength, I have heard. The UN is using him as some kind of trump card.” Slaine nodded; he knew about it all too well. “UN has become more aggressive lately. They have probably accepted that defending their own will mean nothing if there are no people to protect; we are killing more human civilians than what they are saving.”

“What about NATO? Are they still busy in America?” Slaine asked.

Saazbaum chuckled.

“NATO dares not to stretch their military outside of USA since USA is a great military nation with the most military facilities in the world. Nearly all of the humans’ military resources come from there nowadays, so NATO has to protect USA as a first and only priority. Otherwise we cursed might take it over entirely,” the cursed count said and seemed to think of the humans’ attempts as futile. He got a condescending sneer on his lips as he thought and spoke about humans. “We are still winning ground there and have done so for two decades, so it is just a matter of time before they lose that battle as well and NATO perishes.” Then he looked at Slaine again: “The condition on our submarines is still unknown, I assume?”

The cursed vassal nodded.

“I have sent out an order for engineers to check the submarines we have in the docks in the secondary military bases in the Kola Peninsula, and notify me of which boats are usable. I cannot begin restoring anything unless I have proven to the other counts and countesses the submarines are worth it; they will vote me down immediately unless I have something shiny to show them – which makes this mission’s success crucial,” the blond vampire said.

He reached out to take out a photograph from a yellowed and worn paper folder resting on the table. It was the picture of the class of submarine he was leaning toward using, and showed the photograph for Saazbaum. The cursed count took it and looked at it carefully with a studying gaze.

“A Project 971 submarine?” Saazbaum asked when looking at the picture. “I believe they made an improved version of these before the entire submarine program was shut down.”

“They did,” Slaine answered and accepted the photograph to put it back into the folder once Saazbaum was finished studying it. “Since I have ruled out the ballistic and cruise missile boats, it leaves me with the smallest option: I could use an attack submarine like the improved Shtuka-B to remove the risk of stirring up the fear for nuclear war. With this kind of boat, I can make a quick attack on an enemy submarine and not show too much force too early in the game – perhaps even confuse the enemy of what struck them.”

“To show them you are capable without showing them how strong you are?” his adoptive father asked, and Slaine nodded with confidence, saying:

“This is the tactic I believe in and those are the theories I have to back it up.”

Once Slaine was finished laying out his tactical theory, the room went silent. The sound from the breaths of his blood sacrifice and the electricity coursing in the table lamp were all Slaine heard while he watched his father stare back at him with a slight smile on the count’s lips. The cursed man studied Slaine closely for a while before he took a satisfied breather, and closed his eyes while still smiling.

“I must say you have grown quite a lot since the day I took you in under my wing,” he said and put his hands behind his back and stood proudly. “I am proud of you, Slaine – both as a father and as a superior.”

Slaine gave the cursed man a bow.

“Thank you, father,” he said with pretended gratitude and stood back up. “I learned from the best.”

“When will you leave for Severomorsk?” his father then wondered.

Severomorsk was the main naval base for the Northern Fleet before the ships in the Northern Fleet were distributed to the cursed elitists when the Nightfall war began. The city and base was located in the Murmansk Oblast in the Kola Peninsula in the northern part of Vers, and it was the base Slaine planned to claim as his in the future if the submarine fleet was a success.

“In a couple of days,” Slaine answered. “I thought of inspecting the submarine that the engineers recommend me to use, as well as greet the crew that is being put together once they arrive. I believe it is advised that I show myself for them before the mission,” Slaine explained and watched his father nod to agree with him.

“Wise decision,” the cursed man said. His smile then suddenly faded and he leaned his head down just enough to create a serious air around him. Slaine felt a sudden sensation of angst well up in the pit of his stomach; Saazbaum was not only proud of him, but also disappointed. “I spoke to Her Highness,” he then continued and Slaine went instantly stiff. The image of Lemrina’s tearstained cheeks floated into his mind. “She has voiced concern of how you behave with her. She feels lonely.”

‘ _Using dirty tricks to get to me again?_ ’ Slaine thought frustrated and squeezed his hands into fists at his sides. ‘ _You can’t keep hiding behind Saazbaum’s coattails, Lemrina!_ ’

“I am quite busy with this mission I am preparing,” Slaine began but was interrupted by his adoptive father before he got the chance to further develop his excuse:

“You have not forgotten about who and what she is to you, have you?” the cursed count asked with a warning in his stern eyes.

Slaine stared at him for a moment while trying to figure out what to answer. No, he had not forgotten about what she was for him; she was his future fiancé and wife. He was to be a king next to her as a queen, and they would be the symbol for the new Vers Saazbaum was to build.

‘ _I just feel done with her_ ,’ he thought. ‘ _If she could stop including me in her broken fairytale, then I would enjoy keeping her company – but she has already decided who I am; she’s suffocating me_.’

“No, I have not forgotten,” Slaine then sighed as he figured he had to play along with the charade, just like when he had been a human. “Things are just … not the same as when I was human. This is a whole new world for me; I have an eternity to look forward to with her, but I have to understand this world before I commit myself to he-”

“By staying locked up in a room like this? What do you understand about your world from in here?” the master asked; Saazbaum had become stern. He was not buying Slaine’s empty excuses, which made the cursed vassal nervous. “Remember the deal we have,” the vampire master then said and shot needles through Slaine with his glare. “ _She_ is spared for as long as you obey and behave. I understand your world is confusing now that it is new for you, but you have misbehaved lately.”

Slaine knew. He knew it all too well. Perhaps he had been too whimsically ignoring the threat that loomed over Asseylum if he did not behave according to how Saazbaum wished him to, and now he was smacked over his fingers for being naughty? Lately, hate had been blooming in his silent chest. It was a mindless form of hate that was founded upon the feeling of frustration and anger for being leashed and being the victim of cruel treatment. After he had died, Slaine had become to feel a wild spirit in him that wanted to wreak havoc. He wanted to break free from the chains and drag all those who had been a heedless thorn in his side down into the mud. He was angry at everyone around him except Harklight and Eddelrittuo, and he despised all those who had mistreated him in the past and present.

‘ _I feel wounded, but I’m not allowed to lick my wounds because you all yank my chain each time I try…_ ’

“Forgive me, father,” he finally sighed, defeated with a collar that had suddenly tightened some more around his throat. “I realize I have been the cause for troubling thoughts. I have neglected Princess Lemrina and I have not been entirely honest with you, father, with how lost I feel with this curse in me. I have no excuses. Forgive me.”

He bowed deeply for the cursed man, hoping Saazbaum gave him his blessing and accepted his apology.

“Take the rest of the day off,” he heard his adoptive father order with a gentler tone. “Go to Lemrina and treat her as your future wife. I think that is a duty a man should honor. She has been like a withering flower the past days.”

Slaine had no choice but to obey. Saazbaum had already warned him enough with mentioning Asseylum in the passing, and Slaine feared the cursed count was considering something that might be dangerous for his sleeping beloved.

“Yes, father,” Slaine answered quietly and left the room together with Harklight; Saazbaum stayed behind to make sure Slaine walked toward the correct direction; toward his and Lemrina’s room instead of running away.

He boiled beneath his skin the entire way to the royal living quarters. The leash felt tighter now than before, and Lemrina was the cause behind it all. Her hopeless and tragic love for him was of the reckless kind. It was desperate and ugly, and it did not care about his wellbeing.

‘ _And I’m the same as her…_ ’ the blond vassal thought downhearted and opened the door into their quarters.

As he stepped into the room, he immediately came to a halt. He had not even had the time to close the door behind him before he had been surprised and frozen by the sight of the woman waiting for him in the room. Next to her, a painting stood – finished and vibrant – where a blond young man sat in a chair, leaning his body against an elbow supported by the armrest, and had a warm smile on his lips and a gleam in the aqua hued eyes.

It was the human Slaine Troyard.

“Slaine,” Lemrina said quietly with a sorrowful expression on her face. “It is finished.”

Her voice carried a hint of anticipation, expecting Slaine to say something. She knew how cruel it was of her to show the painting to the one who had just lost the humanity the image flawlessly depicted; she knew Slaine’s human self was very much alive despite him trying to suffocate it and let it be gone. The painting was like a reflection from the past of the human boy Asseylum had been treasuring – the boy who had become a young man after a normal course of aging and then been stolen of his warmth.

It felt like looking at a painting of someone he had recently lost. It was painful and sad, filled with tremendous grief that he could not explain. It showed him how Lemrina had seen him as a human – so youthful and humble, handsome and kind. It would forever be a mystery if that was the way Slaine had truly looked or if the painting reflected Lemrina’s outrageous love for him that embellished the human Slaine’s appearance. Either way, it was painful to look at since he knew he would never look like that again.

‘ _I can’t smile like that again…_ ’ After he had been cursed, the foundation for the warm smile had disappeared entirely; his death had been the finishing blow on his desperate attempts to find a meaning in life. Now all of that had been taken away; he had no meaning at all. His humanity was gone. Asseylum’s precious Slaine was no more, hence why he had no reason to smile like that anymore.

“How could you?” he asked with a blameful whisper as his body felt like quivering.

He wanted to yell at her to hide the pain away. He wanted to break the image of his former self and have it disappear from the face of the earth. It hurt to look at it. It hurt too much. Never did he want to see it finished after he had been cursed; he wanted to forget about the young man he had been since he was nothing but a monster now. It would have been easier that way; to bury the old Slaine and let him disappear entirely.

“Slaine,” she said and frowned with determination. “Look at this painting and study it well, since it is the uncensored proof of who you were just a week ago. This cold beast you have become is not-“

“Silence, you wretched woman!” the cursed young man burst out angrily, not being able to contain the grief and frustration within him. “I am nothing of what he was!”

It was a lie and Slaine knew it. That was why he was grieving and feeling frustrated. Had he truly been dead, the cursed young man he had become would have cared less about the painting and memory.

‘ _I feel so robbed; you all stole my life. How can I forgive any of you for something like that?_ ’

And yet, he knew it was partly his own fault as well since he had accepted the harsh conditions he had not known about the moment he had given himself to Saazbaum nearly twenty months ago now.

Lemrina stared at him with calm and ordered the servants out of the room. She and Slaine had been arguing enough times ever since the young man had been cursed that she did not bother reacting to his flaring anger. The cursed vassal had been cold toward her and behaved as if he had been considering leaving her forever even if he was aware it was impossible for him to pack his bags and leave. Slaine had not let her touch him and had smacked her hand away each time she had tried. He had not wanted to listen to her beg for his former self to come back and hold her, and he had not been able to hide the torment he felt when she tried to force him to behave according to her wishes like in the past. He was done with that. He wanted to be allowed to be done with that, but, since it was not permitted, he had ended up bursting up in emotional flames and yelled at her. Each night, he had wasted time in Harklight’s arms and waited for Lemrina to fall asleep, and then he had gone to bed and slept next to her – when she was an inanimate corpse, not aware of his presence – to spare himself of her snake-like arms that always threatened to slither over him.

“Then I suggest you to look at this painting closely, since I am not having this kind of rebellious behavior!” Lemrina yelled back and suddenly stood up from her chair. She had been drinking blood again to become strong enough to walk. “You have been acting like a chained dog trying to chew itself free. If you are to become a wolf, then act like it and-!”

“Even a wolf is expected to chew itself free from a chain if it has no other choice! I have had it with your constant demands and ugly tricks to make me yours!” the blond vampire answered and flung out his hand in an outraged motion. “You cannot pull on Saazbaum’s coat each time I am something else what you want me to be!”

“Forget not what is at stake here!” the cursed princess growled dangerously. A flash of furious vengeance coursed through the eyes staring at him. “ _She_ will be paying the price of your disobedience and I am a sentence away from demanding that price to be paid!”

There was nothing to be said nor done now that she put it out so bluntly for him. She would not hesitate to kill Asseylum for good. She would give that order out of vengeance even if she knew her only hold on him would disappear with the sleeping princess.

Slaine stayed silent while fury boiled beneath the surface. It was slowly quenched by hopelessness now that the grief hit him again and reminded him of how caged he was. Even after the curse had taken him, Lemrina still ruled over him. If Saazbaum was not present, Slaine would not need to deal with this suffocation since Asseylum’s life would not be in danger if he was taken out of the picture.

‘ _But Saazbaum_ is _here, and he will loom over Asseylum until he dies_ ,’ the blond thought hopelessly.

“Slaine…” she then said quietly and walked all the way up to him. Slaine backed away, hitting his back against the door he had just entered through. “I just ask you to stop refusing me the way you have recently. Let me touch you and let me have a conversation with you without you exploding in a fit of anger.” Slaine lowered his gaze in defeat and reluctantly waited for her to touch him. Warm hands cupped his cheeks and a shiver ran through him. “Let me hold you…” she then whispered.

She had warmed up her body again, just like last time during the first day of Slaine’s turning process, and he found himself melting just like that time. No matter what emotions stormed inside him, he was always calmed down and rendered defenseless when human warmth touched his skin.

“Lemrina…” he said in an attempt to beg her to step away from him.

“Come to bed with me,” she whispered. “Do not seek heat from your blood sacrifice like you have done each night since the curse claimed you. If this is what is required of me to keep you as mine, then I will warm up my body for you to enjoy each night. Just let me hold you.”

As she pushed her body up against his, Slaine found that he could not push her away even the slightest. He selfishly wanted her warmth and he would accept it and take it since she offered it to him.

When she noticed this obedience in him, she took his hand and pulled him into their bedroom, hiding away from the world outside it and offered him her body for the second time. Without moral or self-value, Slaine let her undress him and he watched her drop her clothes to the floor. Her naked body was glowing like a human’s would while Slaine was as pale as a corpse since he had not fed for two days. Rather than starving for blood, he starved for her heat and let himself be lured into the depths of pleasure. Once again, that fuzzy smile urged him to fall, and once again he used that to push into Lemrina while her legs were wrapped around his waist.

“Slaine…” she sighed without inhibitions; she let him know she would not suffocate her moans and sighs anymore; she was not doing him a favor this time. “Ahh…! Look at me…” she moaned and put her hands on his cheeks. “P-please look at … hahh … me!”

When Slaine opened his eyes he met hers looking back at him with such passion he felt pity toward both her and himself. This was wrong. They were desecrating each other again, but this time he felt defiled and violated. This time, he felt as if he sold himself for her heat since she did not do this for the same reason as last time. This time…

‘ _My heart’s not racing…_ ’

This feeling of violation and desecration must have been similar to what she had felt a week ago. She must have felt like a cheap doll, just like Slaine did now. Even if he got the pleasure of her warmth to course through him, she got her lust for him pampered and pleased. It should have been a mutual trade, but it felt nothing but warped since this relationship was built on her blackmailing him to obey her.

‘ _I shouldn’t give a damn_ ,’ the blond then thought and closed his eyes again to bury his face against the warm crook of her neck. ‘ _I have no self-worth anyway._ ’ He wished he would have been able to say it was solely for Asseylum that he committed these crimes against himself and the princess beneath him now, but he had to admit he did it mostly to comfort himself through Lemrina’s artificial warmth. ‘ _It’s no use. I can’t refuse human heat…_ ’

And so, with that thought, he pushed his thoughts away and took her heat while paying her by fulfilling her need as a desperate being in love with a monster – willingly committing the mistake that would crush her own heart.


	27. Pivoting Trap 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the delay again! These chapters are quite difficult to write at the moment since a lot of things has to be established in these, but I hope you all have patience with it.

The northern wind tried to desperately pull at his black fur coat. The hairs of the fur fluttered violently, but the heaviness of the coat made it hang nearly motionlessly around him. However, the tips of his blond hair swayed aggressively in the strong wind and brushed his pale cheeks teasingly – sometimes whipping harshly against the highly sensitive skin while it glistened innocently in the full moon like silvery strands of silk. He brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes with a hand clad in black leather and pushed it up beneath the hat that was made of the same fur as his coat.

The October autumn had become cold – especially up in the northern part of Vers on the docks in Polyarny where Slaine stood and waited for his master to land with the helicopter. A crew of seventy-one cursed former submariners stood behind him, all covered with warm winter coats and hats as well to protect them from the temperatures that had just reached below zero degrees Celsius. They were all ready to greet their new and temporary admiral for the first time. In the water next to the dock, a long and frost-covered black metallic body was moored to the iron bollards like a beast chained in several leashes to ensure it would not escape its duty.

The wind from the landing rotorcraft finally made his coat billow and he narrowed his eyes to protect them from the cold wind that intensified as the helicopter began to descend. A breath escaped his lips and turned into mist that flew past his cheeks like a restless spirit that had come to haunt the frosty night. The cold wind was painful – much more painful than he remembered winter winds to be; it burned against his pale cheeks, made them feel as fragile as shards of glass.

The helicopter landed and, the moment the door opened, all submariners knocked their heels together in a simultaneous motion and saluted the cursed count who exited through the rotorcraft’s door. Saazbaum, dressed in a black fur coat and hat as well – that was characteristic to the nation’s military – walked toward Slaine with a proud smile, and, as he stood before him, the blond cursed vassal saluted his master and welcomed his father with a firm tone:

“Welcome to Polyarny in Murmansk Oblast, Count Saazbaum.”

His words turned into a mindless and misty presence just like the breath from moments ago.

Saazbaum nodded and studied the crew standing behind his son, and then smiled even brighter.

“Congratulations, Sir Troyard, for your first crew,” the cursed count said with a ghostly breath and then looked at his son again with pride gleaming in his dark eyes. “You look striking with dutiful soldiers behind you.” His leather-gloved hand gave the young vampire’s shoulder a pat and let it rest there before he looked toward the submarine waiting on the dock next to them, just a couple of meters away. Slaine’s cells vibrated from the touch. “This is the attack submarine you chose in the end?” he then asked and walked over to the dock to take a closer look of the metallic body that resembled a mighty shark – the body of an improved Shtuka-B.

“Yes, my lord,” the cursed vassal answered and followed his master to the edge of the dock. “It is the K-461 Volk, one of the Project 971 submarines. She was determined to be the healthiest of the improved versions since she has been standing inside a covered dry-dock all this time.”

Saazbaum nodded as he studied the eerie vessel.

“The engineers have run through her systems properly, I assume?” Slaine heard his father ask, and the blond nodded and answered:

“Yes. All of her systems are in tune and working, and the crew has already gotten to familiarize with the vessel.”

“Very well,” Saazbaum said and then looked at Slaine again with that proud smile and gleam. He looked eager to let Slaine show him what future he wanted for Vers’s navy. “Then we are ready to go.”

“We are. The crew has been properly briefed,” the blond vassal said and gave his father a slight but dangerous smile. “The humans will cower once they realize there are vengeful ghosts in the waters.” Slaine then took a deep breath and yelled out his first order: “All hands aboard. Man your stations!”

A synchronized “yes sir!” rung on the dock and running steps surrounded the small Saazbaum-family. The submariners were quick to obey their order – as drilled as they were – and hurried on board the black mechanical beast, which impatiently waited to demonstrate her deadly force in the sea; she was pulling at the mooring ropes as the currents in the water and air took a hold of her, and the gangway protested against her movements with loud screeching noises that resembled hollow, lamenting cries.

“Captain Ramius,” Slaine said, as if welcoming the captain into the discussion the moment he noticed the cursed captain of the submarine walk toward him and Saazbaum while the officers waited for the submariners finish boarding the shark.

The captain honored the cursed vassal and the count with a proper salute and then looked at Saazbaum with eyes filled with respect.

“Welcome to Polyarny and on board the K-461, Count Saazbaum,” he said with the deep and rumbling voice of a middle-aged man who had a long experience with giving orders and carrying heavy responsibilities. It was a voice Slaine had grown used to during the past month when he had been in close contact with the cursed man while preparing for this mission. “It is an honor to have you accompany us during this voyage and mission.”

“The pleasure is mine, Captain Viktor Ramius,” Saazbaum said with a respectful tone. “I have heard you and your crew were quite eager to return to your service below the sea. I am grateful for your bravery. Not many cursed men would dare do such a thing.”

“The sea is a wondrous marvel from the surface, my lord, but I must say I have longed back to the darkness and unknown world beneath the waves. I never seem to get used to the rolling and heeling of a ship,” the captain said with misty breaths puffing out from between his curved lips as he spoke.

Slaine turned his words toward his master:

“The crew trusts their captain enough it makes them feel safe when serving under his command. Captain Ramius and his crew are well accustomed to the life beneath the surface,” Slaine told his father. “I believe we shall be in good hands once we step on board.”

“You are far too kind, Sir Troyard,” the captain answered with a respectful smile on his lips. “I will perform to the best of my abilities in honor of our motherland.”

“It is not set in stone, yet, Captain Ramius,” Slaine reminded him while he smiled satisfied. “This might be our only mission even if it turns out to be a success.”

The experienced captain nodded to acknowledge Slaine’s remark, but he made one bounce on his toes like a proud captain who was eager to leave port, and answered:

“That may be true, my lord, but I must be awfully confident since I do have a feeling my former life at sea will become my reality once again – and I will owe my gratitude to you of course, Sir Troyard.”

He gave Slaine a respectful bow.

The man was extremely assured this mission would be successful enough that it would not leave any room for doubts about using submarines in the future. Viktor Ramius had made it clear from the start that he expected the former Soviet submarines to be put in use once more and let them haunt the seas the way they had done in the past. No matter how many times Slaine tried to correct him and warn him that his plans could be voted down by the elite, the cursed captain always nodded but let him know that his performance would be exceptional enough it would convince the nobles to vote in Slaine’s favor.

“Well then,” Saazbaum said and turned toward the boat that was slowly being filled with its crew. “Why not show me around, Sir Troyard? Let me see this ship you have found.”

Slaine smiled and tilted his head slightly.

“Sir,” he said. “It is a boat, not a ship.” When Saazbaum arched his eyebrows with confusion, Slaine snorted amused and noticed the submarine captain smile while looking at the two, knowing what Slaine was going to say: “A ship can carry a boat, but a boat cannot carry a ship. A submarine is a boat, my lord.”

Saazbaum chuckled heartily and so did the captain. The cursed count gave Slaine’s cheek a gentle pat and all of Slaine’s cells resonated with the sense of belonging to the vampire master before him; the one who had created him. The young vampire’s smile brightened from the fatherly touch. It was something the blond cursed man appreciated with his master. Whenever they were solely a father and a son, Saazbaum gave Slaine plenty of fatherly treatment that Slaine’s own father – Dr. Troyard – had not. It made him confused, since Saazbaum as a master was abusing him, but, as a father, he gave Slaine guidance and safety.

‘ _And comfort…_ ’ he thought and let the touch linger on his cheek by holding onto the sensation of it.

“Youngsters,” Saazbaum said amused. “It is a blessing to have them correct and remind us elderly who have forgotten to pay attention to such details. Do you not think so as well, Captain Ramius?”

The old captain knitted his hands together behind his back and cleared his throat.

“Perhaps, my lord, but there is a saying that a captain is insulted if his ship is called a boat, while a captain of a boat is honored if his boat is called a ship,” he said with the deep kind of chuckle that was characteristic for a man of his age.

Slaine smiled and turned toward the cursed captain, saying:

“I do have to apologize, Captain, since I now realize I have insulted you greatly by taking away the honor my father just gave you.”

As the air was filled with genuine laughter again, Slaine closed his eyes for just a moment to take in the ambience around the three. This may have turned out to be the last time he got a moment like this; a kind moment that he hoped he would be allowed to remember since the entire crew – along with Slaine and Saazbaum – risked of meeting their demise the moment they ventured out at sea.

‘ _We have to make this mission a success_ ,’ he thought and opened his eyes to look up at an approaching towboat that would guide the mechanical beast out into the fjord, and then followed his father and the captain to board the submarine. ‘ _Please, stay safe, Asseylum. I will be back soon_ ,’ he thought with hopeful delusion before he descended the ladder down into the tightly confined space of the boat.

The past month had been the busiest Slaine had encountered in his short life. He had made three round-trips to Severomorsk and Polyarny in the North and supervised the crew’s re-training program and taken time to familiarize with the submarine he had chosen. When he was in the royal palace in Saint Petersburg, a lot of his time had been consumed by studying. He had sat in the royal library and in the planning and operation’s room with his nose buried in books about submarine construction and tactics, taken notes and reluctantly sipped the warm blood Harklight had served him to keep his mind going. Just like a human doing a lot of intense thinking, Slaine needed to feed regularly to keep his concentration and attention sharp. The taste of blood was still running chills down his spine, but he was slowly becoming accustomed to it.

The blood sacrifice had been reserved for Asseylum for the moment; since Slaine could no longer give the sleeping princess his own blood. As he was not allowed to take the blood stored in the blood banks with the intension of feeding the former cursed princess, he had given Harklight the duty and honor of entering the sleeping princess’s quarters for the first time and offer her his blood. The cursed blond did not trust the human young man enough to let him enter the room without supervision, hence why Eddelrittuo had gotten the task of accompanying the blood sacrifice each time he was to fulfill the duty given to him by his lord. He had done so perfectly without suspicious behavior according to Eddelrittuo’s reports, and Slaine trusted the handmaiden the most in this world about matters concerning Asseylum; Harklight was to be trusted.

The relationship between him and Lemrina had been toxic the past month. During the days they argued and resented each other, and during the nights they performed ugly rituals with each other’s bodies to find comfort through lust in their impossible situation. It was an endless cycle of taking and claiming everything the other had; pride and honor, patience and attention, emotional support and the hate that followed.

Slaine’s untamed nature had completely taken over each moment he was out of a superior’s sight, and Lemrina’s desperate threats to control him had quickly lost their meaning. The young vampire had learned her threats had no solid foundation when she spoke them herself and were as empty as Slaine’s love to her, and she had realized this as well. Instead, she bad begun to manipulate Saazbaum into taking her side more frequently and he was the one who successfully managed to control Slaine to the letter. His threats were real and the cursed young man dared not to disobey him.

Due to this chaotic dynamic between the cursed princess and the vassal, Saazbaum had lost patience with both of them enough times that neither Slaine nor Lemrina dared turning to him for support and help in their matters. Their wills had turned into ghosts in their own lives; it did not matter anymore once Saazbaum had made it clear they were behaving like grown-up children.

Eddelrittuo had warned Slaine of this destructive spiral after an intense argument had occurred between Slaine and Lemrina over what to do with the painting of the human Slaine; Slaine had wanted it destroyed while Lemrina had refused. The cursed blond had stormed out of their room and sought comfort at Asseylum’s bedside, holding the sleeping cursed princess’s hand and wept from grief and anger. Eddelrittuo had found him there and had reminded him about his original intention to succumb to Saazbaum’s demands.

“ _This is what you agreed on, my lord_ ,” she had said with a concerned look on her young face. “ _I know this is hard on you and I grieve for you, but you cannot keep this rebellion up or Princess Asseylum will take the punishment of your crimes_.”

Her words had rung painfully in his ears; he knew she was right but he had no energy left to be strong like he had expected himself to be twenty months back in time. Carrying the curse was too much for him.

Never had he thought it would be as heavy as it was now; his shoulders were breaking since they were too narrow to carry the duty of being someone else than what he was and for marrying someone who thought she owned him. Lemrina lacked empathy and sympathy the moment she thought of Slaine. All she could think of was him and how much she wanted him without paying any heed to what he thought about the matter. For how long did he have to put up with her constant demands? For how long did he have to be the prince she wanted him to be in her destructive fairytale? When would she accept he would not love her the way she wanted him to?

‘ _What about me?_ ’ he wondered. ‘ _There is no room for me in this relationship with her…_ ’

It suffocated him and made him act out like a wild wolf. Saazbaum expected them to behave and obey his order of marrying each other to become a king and a queen, but he refused to support them in building any kind of stable foundation, saying Slaine and Lemrina were old enough to be able to handle it themselves. Slaine had tried for nineteen months but to no avail; Lemrina was never contented, and now – during the recent month – the blond young vampire had given up and coped by taking out his frustration on her during the nights when she offered him her body. She let him do as he pleased, and that had become Slaine’s only way to cope with his situation. Each time Slaine sought purpose from the hazy smile from the moment in his past he could not remember – the smile that had begun to haunt him even when Lemrina’s body was unavailable.

“The compartments are quite small,” Slaine heard Saazbaum say, and the young vampire looked up at his master who pulled his gloves off while looking around the busy corridor they had found themselves in once they had entered the submarine. The lights were quite localized; lamps were mounted to the walls and the ceiling here and there, casting a glow that would not overwhelm the eyes and instead left plenty of shadows in the nooks and crannies. The vampire master looked around with interest and surprise. “I was aware submarines were small but I must say I am quite surprised about the size; it was smaller than I thought.”

Slaine smiled and removed his gloves as well before he held out his hand to gesture toward the direction they should go, to guide the cursed count through the submarine.

“I was surprised as well. Even though the books are precise about the size, it is still difficult to imagine it correctly before you visit these corridors in person,” he answered his father as they began walking down the corridor where crewmembers were busy with preparing the submarine to leave port. Slaine guided Saazbaum toward the officers’ berthing where they would both have their own small cabin to stay in. “The Project 914 submarines are larger than this. Here, the cabins for the officers are more like a larger form of closets, but on board an Akula each officer gets a more functional room,” he then explained and said with a discrete chuckle: “They even have a sauna and a pool on board.”

Saazbaum looked genuinely surprised and seemed interested in listening to Slaine teach him about the secret world of submarines.

“A sauna and pool? Why, that sounds rather luxurious for a submarine,” the cursed count said and threw a glance over his shoulder at Slaine, who followed him down the corridors.

Each time they met crewmembers, the cursed soldiers stepped aside to let the elitists through before hurrying on with their tasks. It was not a custom to salute an officer while on board a submarine, but they should always let the officers through first.

They came to a ladder that led down to the deck below, and descended the stairs.

“Yes, it is,” the blond cursed man answered as he followed his lord. “Since the Akula submarines are designed to stay submersed for a long time, it is important to satisfy the crew to boost morale and make them feel the time they spend on board is worth it in some sense.”

Saazbaum acknowledged the cursed young man’s explanation with an interested “hm” and they finally stopped in front of a narrow door. Slaine removed his furry hat and put it beneath his left arm, and nodded toward the door.

“This is your cabin, sir,” he said and opened the door for his lord. “As said, the cabin is not much but it serves its purpose.”

He stepped aside to let his father enter and Saazbaum took a look around the small compartment.

A one-person bed was placed all the way in the back of the room with a desk right next to it facing the wall on the right side of the room. A small two seated couch was placed against the wall opposite of the desk, and a small locker functioned as the wardrobe. Around the walls and above the furniture, small cupboards and shelves for books and other belongings stood empty, waiting for lifeless occupants to fill them, and a mirror was fastened to the back of the door. It was a cramped space that threatened to give anyone without experience and training a sense of claustrophobia. The room was quite different to what Saazbaum was used to, but the cursed count seemed pleased with it anyway, probably not expecting a grand cabin like the one on board his V.E.S. Dioscuria.

“This is perfectly fine,” the cursed man said and turned around toward Slaine, who stood outside in the corridor, looking at his master as he finished inspecting the room. Their gazes met for a moment; Saazbaum studied him for a while before he took a deep breath and said with a serious tone: “Please, step inside, Slaine, and close the door behind you.”

Slaine bowed by nodding his head and stepped inside the room. As he closed the door and looked up at his master, the cursed man’s eyes shifted from those of an admiral to the eyes of a father; he looked slightly concerned:

“Are you all right, Slaine?”

The cursed man’s considerate words were so sudden Slaine blinked a couple of times and stared back at him without knowing what to answer. He processed the question for a couple of seconds before he understood what the cursed count meant with his question, and smiled.

“Perfectly fine, father,” Slaine answered with a perfect lie; if he was to be honest, he would cause the cursed man worry if he told him he felt nervous about this mission. “I am eager to get this operation in motion. I would call myself impatient rather than anything else.”

Saazbaum eyed him for a while before answering Slaine with a smile and a nod:

“Your eyes are shining brilliantly, my son,” the cursed man said with a gentle tone that reverberated pleasantly in Slaine’s mind. “However, refrain from pushing yourself too hard.”

Slaine bowed to show the cursed man his gratitude for showing such care toward him, and answered:

“Thank you. I will follow your advice.” He rose back up and continued: “Now, if you excuse me, I have to prepare myself for the boat leaving port. I have promised to accompany the captain throughout this mission to gain experience. You are welcome to join me, father.”

“That is why I am here,” the cursed count answered happily.

Slaine excused himself for a moment to hang his coat in his cabin that was right next to Saazbaum’s. The moment he closed the door, his reflection was caught in his eye and he stopped unbuttoning the coat. He looked up at himself in the small mirror on the door and saw the pale cheeks and cold eyes stare back at him.

His expression had softened considerately during the past month, but the eyes of a wolf were still flickering back at him from the reflection. No matter how much he tried, it seemed as if the dangerous glint did not disappear. It was always there, and he knew it was bad – if not dangerous even due to the constant trials he was put through. The look of a predator felt treacherous since he felt as though there was no way to trust his own self with anything. Being cursed had been the last straw that had made him build the horrible pressure in his chest, and he feared he would explode any moment out of sheer frustration without heed for the repercussions.

‘ _I have always been bad at controlling my emotions…_ ’ he reminded himself now and then. ‘ _Just grit your teeth, Slaine Troyard, and bear with it for Asseylum’s sake. This is your life now_.’

And yet, no matter how much he tried to control himself, he was like a constantly leaking pressure chamber that threatened to blow. The image of Trillram suddenly flickered in his memory like a breaking lightbulb that desperately tried to shed light in a darkened room, and a flash of heat cut through his mind.

‘ _Hate…_ _Just like back in Shinawara…_ ’

Terrified of the emotion, he tore his gaze away from the mirror with heavily furrowed brows and hurriedly finished unbuttoning his coat. The coat fell off his shoulders and he hung it on the hanger above the mirror to cover his undead reflection – the reflection he feared since all he could see looking back at him was an unpredictable and maddened wolf. He felt as if a dark shadow was lurking in his mind.

He took a deep breath to calm the mind and prepared to face his father and the crew on the other side of the door. Then, as he had collected enough courage to step out through the door, he showed his father to the control room where Captain Ramius was preparing the submarine to leave port.

The mechanical beast was finally released from the leashes holding it to the dock, and it obediently followed the towboat that guided it toward its battle arena with old mooring ropes without cheers or waves from the harbor crew left on the dock.

The Murmansk fjord was over fifty kilometers long and seven kilometers wide, and its water was heavily polluted by filth and oil that leaked out from deteriorating ship wreckages moored in the abandoned harbors. The rusty ships – fishing boats and old military ships alike – looked like bleeding ghosts from a forgotten time that cast an eerie atmosphere in the deathly silent fjord. The channel was surrounded by rounded hilltops of every size with worn tanks still standing on guard with their cannons directed toward the sea, sorrowfully rusting and falling apart while reminding whoever saw them about the importance of the Kola Peninsula in past wars.

Polyarny was a town in the northern part of the fjord, strategically located there to allow the submarines from the former Northern Fleet to quickly get out to sea and fulfill their duty. The entire Murmansk area was spared from surface ice all year round due to the warm North Atlantic drift, which had allowed the former submarine fleet to traverse to and from the fjord safely without worry about the ice that could damage their hulls during winter time.

The area was perfectly located and would soon become busy again, Slaine hoped – most preferably under his command.

It was for the first time in over twenty years that a submarine traveled through the silent fjord, and it was clear the crew and their captain on board were consumed by a strong sense of nostalgic obligation they had not felt ever since the submarine fleets had been taken out of commission. The cursed men seemed somewhat emotional about it, and the ambience in the passageways was filled with silent honor that resonated within each crewmember.

‘ _It’s like they have reunited with a long lost love_ ,’ Slaine thought as he looked around the cursed beings around him and listened to their silence in the corridor as he and Saazbaum followed the captain to the bridge-cockpit on the sail; the highest point of the submarine. It was a beautiful sight that even filled the young vampire with awe. ‘ _These men are truly devoted to their duty_.’

“It is a marvelous thing,” he heard Saazbaum say once the cold night attacked their unprotected skin and the sea awaiting them beyond the opening of the channel spread out before their eyes. It was cold enough a thin layer of snow had fallen on the rocky walls of the fjord. Slaine looked up at his father and waited for the cursed man to continue explaining: “A sailor’s love to the sea is just as powerful as the love to a spouse, and sometimes it might be even stronger than that.”

Captain Ramius nodded and looked out at the waves of the Barents Sea while he placed a hand on the edge of the cockpit as if he had done that many times in his life. He caressed the metal with anticipation.

“The sea offers a sailor lessons they will never learn anywhere else, and it teaches all of them humbleness and reverence. The sea is a treacherous home and a cold and heartless wife; it is unforgiving and uncooperative, yet it feels welcoming and becomes a place you long for,” he said and looked around with nostalgia playing in his eyes. “I have waited for my chance to return to the world beneath the surface for a long, long time, and so has my crew.” The experienced captain turned his eyes to Slaine. “I and my crew are returning home, and we owe it all to you, my lord.”

Slaine was overwhelmed. Had those words been spoken at another time and another place, they would not have been as powerful as they were now that Slaine had been allowed to witness the meaning behind them in person. It was impossible to deny the truth in those words and the great emotion floating in the passageways of the submarine. These devoted men were reuniting with their long lost love. It was surprising, since the crew on board the surface ships were terrified of the dark below their ships; it was as if the cursed submariners’ longing for their underwater duty overpowered the fear of being trapped in it if it sunk.

‘ _I have to find all the remaining experienced submariners to get my fleets working_ ,’ Slaine concluded. He hoped the majority of them were prepared to return to their sharks.

“And may you return home for many years to come, Captain,” he answered the cursed captain as he finally found his words.

The captain smiled joyfully with the wrinkles around his eyes deepening, and then commanded the engines to propel the submarine ahead with a slow pace of one-third speed.

When the mechanical beast had been released from the towboat and was moving solely with her own force at two-thirds of her speed, she was ready to submerge. The waves made the boat roll unpleasantly from side to side due to its round hull, which made it somewhat difficult to walk in the warm and narrow passageways, but the captain promised the rolling and heeling would stop once they went down beneath the surface; a submarine had no pointy keel to steady it like surface ships had.

“Depth under the keel?” Slaine listened to the captain ask an operator sitting in front of a control panel after they had descended the ladder and returned to the control room.

Slaine was intent in listening to everything the cursed captain said to gain experience and learn what it meant to command and operate a submarine. It would have been awfully ludicrous if he was to commission the submarine fleets while knowing nothing about the procedures on board the boats.

“Depth below keel one-four-zero meters, Captain,” the operator answered.

“Very well. Take her down, XO. Depth one-hundred meters,” Captain Ramius then ordered his executive officer.

The executive officer pulled the diving alarm, which began resounding in the boat, and then turned toward the crew in the control room.

“Dive, dive! Flood the ballast tanks. Rig out the bow planes. Level out at depth one-zero-zero meters. Five degrees down bubble,” the officer ordered.

“Flooding ballast tanks. Bow planes rigged out. Depth one, zero-zero-meters. Five degrees down bubble, aye, sir,” the crewmen acknowledged and executed their orders.

As the submarine began diving by filling its ballast tanks with seawater, it began tilting with its bow turned slightly downward. The sound of the air gushing out of the ballast tanks in the pressure hulls, which began filling up with water instead, was rumbling all around them with merciless noise that made Slaine’s ears ache. The cursed vassal endured it to look calm and unfazed just like the cursed captain next to him, but it was excruciating on his sensitive ears since the process of filling the tanks took a good while.

The dive was special to say the least. Slaine had never heard the cries and creaks of metal the way he heard them now that the pressure from the water around the submarine began forcing itself against the hull. At first, he was surprised and shocked to hear such a threatening noise, but, as none of the experienced submariners in the control room reacted to it, he determined there was no reason to panic.

To his relief, Viktor Ramius was seemingly accustomed to newcomers on board a submarine. He had probably sailed with many boys and young men who had done their first deployment after naval academies, as he gave both Slaine and Saazbaum assurance:

“Worry not, my lords,” the cursed captain said with a satisfied smile on his lips to finally be allowed below the surface. “The creaking is completely normal. The pressure of water is merciless, but her normal operation depth is four-hundred-eighty meters, and can withstand the pressure at maximum six-hundred meters if necessary.”

As the submarine leveled out at a depth of one-hundred meters under the command of the cursed executive officer, the captain ordered a speed to one-third and ordered all sonarmen to listen to all passive systems for enemy activity.

“XO has the conn,” Captain Ramius ordered through the speaker-system, and the cursed executive officer repeated his superior’s order and took the command in the control room.

Several days went by. Slaine was much like the cursed captain’s shadow; he followed Ramius during every hour of the cursed man’s duty and asked questions and was willing to learn as much as possible. Saazbaum made him company at times, but the cursed count mostly spent time in his cabin, control room or in the officers’ mess – planning and polishing his next move to change Vers Empire. Slaine had little to no knowledge of what his father was planning; all he had been told to care about was his own mission and career, and he had been contented with that and left the cursed man alone with his work.

The time beneath the surface felt like it stood still. Nothing interesting happened except for an exercise called “Angles and Dangles” where the submarine was put through sharp maneuvers to ensure all objects on board were stored securely in their storages and would not make sounds once a battle or a stealth mission was brewing. There was no sense of daytime in the darkness. The submarine had no windows or portholes – just like all other military submarines – which allowed no visual stimuli from outside the hull.

It was nothing but a deadly container and it felt like driving a car with the windows covered and a map as guidance; all they had were underwater charts and an inertial guidance system that kept an approximate track of where the submarine was located when submerged; the GPS-signal did not reach below the surface of water.

The sounds on board were eccentric. They were sounds Slaine had never heard before and he had been tormented by ghostly chills running down his spine during his first day on board before he grew used to the noise. He was unsure if it was because of his sensitive hearing or if these sounds were heard by human submariners as well, but he could hear the friction from the water on the hull as the boat moved through it and the machinery whirred constantly around him. At times he could hear the wailing of whales outside the hull – a sound he would never grow used to due to its eerie nature.

He also heard the cavitation from the propeller pushing the boat forward at times when the speed was increased; the propeller created low pressure in the water at the tips of the propeller blades, which made the water boil and form small gas bubbles that imploded and created faint shock waves. It had been similar with fighter jets, he remembered; the white clouds forming around the wings were the result of pressure dropping as the aircraft’s wings cut through the air.

The sonarmen were listening closely for any kind of unnatural activity in the areas where the K-461 sailed in the outer rims of the Barents Sea, and nothing but biological sounds had been heard during the five days the boat had been submerged. Slaine was sure there was enemy activity in the area around the Kola Peninsula and Scandinavia, but it would be difficult to locate any enemy submarine since the area they searched in was vast.

‘ _They would be stupid if they didn’t keep our borders under surveillance_ ,’ the cursed blond thought with patience. ‘ _We need to sink one of them before we return to Polyarny so I can prove the elitists my point._ ’

During the sixth day, Slaine found himself in the officer’s mess along with Saazbaum, spending some relaxed time with the cursed count while sipping warm blood from a coffee cup as Captain Ramius was planning out the next course in the control room. It still felt perverted how the cursed creatures tried to hold on to their former human behavior like these kind of rituals with cups and dinner tables. They were drinking blood as though it was coffee or tea.

“Do you remember anything about your father’s work?” Saazbaum suddenly asked after they had discussed about the current situation in the Versian rule system. Lemrina had been accepted as a future ruler of Vers, but the nobles had believed her mind was still too young to take on that kind of duty; she had not enough knowledge to be anything close to a ruler yet, something Slaine agreed with.

Slaine stared at the cursed count for a short moment of surprise.

“No, not much. I was not allowed inside the laboratory for natural reasons and I have never taken part of the papers,” the cursed young man answered.

Now that Slaine was reminded about it, he wondered what had happened to his father’s research. He had been too naïve and carefree to take interest in what his biological father had discovered since the human he had thought it did not matter to his situation as a blood sacrifice. Now, however, Slaine suddenly felt he could perhaps face the papers his father left behind, hoping he would learn something new about himself as a cursed creature.

‘ _I’m still a newborn child when it comes to this curse; I don’t know much about what I am…_ ’ he thought and was interrupted by his adoptive father:

“I assume dissected corpses are not a sight recommended for children,” Saazbaum said and nodded understandingly. “I was thinking about what happened to the boy we call Orange. He is still human and, yet, he has the strength of one of us. Your father would have been ecstatic had he been alive now.”

Slaine tilted his head slightly and smiled with a frown.

“He would have undeniably been eager to take samples from the boy,” he said. “Orange’s condition is quite peculiar and I have no further understanding of this than you, father.”

Of course, Slaine had not told anyone he had met Orange a while ago on the beach where he had been on a mission to pick flowers. It had been a well-preserved secret of his and would stay like that as well. Each time the young vampire thought of the boy, all he could remember were his warm hands against Slaine’s neck or cheeks. The sensation of the touch was still somehow there, as if the boy had never taken his hands off Slaine – something the blond had difficulties to admit since it made his need for human warmth too obvious that even an enemy would do as long as he felt warmth.

“According to reports from eyewitnesses, he harbors the same strength as a fourth generation vampire,” Saazbaum said pondering. “His stamina is still human, however. I wonder who his master is.”

“A fourth generation?” the blond asked with great surprise. He had known Orange was strong after what he had witnessed back on the shore of Malaysia, but he had had no idea about how strong the brown-haired boy actually was. “That is impossible. The humans have no counts on their side,” Slaine thought out loud, and Saazbaum concluded:

“Which means he was most likely cursed by our late princess.”

It felt as if something dropped like a heavy stone in his chest when Slaine heard his father’s conclusion and he stopped breathing – which he normally did out of habit when he was awake. His frozen heart had suddenly began to ache and a flame of jealousy blew up from somewhere inside his mind, scorching his reasoning for a moment.

Orange had gotten what Slaine had wanted to have ever since he had been a child; Asseylum’s gift. The human had gotten Asseylum’s blessing and been turned into a half cursed creature while Slaine had not gotten the gift for all the years he had known her. She had told him he had to preserve his humanity since he had been beautiful like that, but she had seemingly not applied that same thought or perspective of humans on Orange. Had the cursing of Orange been unintentional?

‘ _Even if I was special to her as a human, Orange still got her as his ruling mistress. Now, I’m not special to her at all… Damn him!_ ’ he thought and was snapped back to reality by Saazbaum’s warning tone:

“Jealousy is unbecoming you, Slaine Saazbaum Troyard.” Slaine blinked and looked at his father after he had unknowingly dropped his gaze to the table where his right hand had formed into a fist. “Your eyes have a dangerous gleam in them again. I suggest you find your reasoning and calm down. Keep your head straight.”

The young vampire had to take a moment to understand what he had heard his master say, and he continued staring at Saazbaum’s stern eyes, which looked back at him without blinking and studied him carefully. The cursed man looked displeased with Slaine’s reaction, and the blond remembered to take a breath and sighed:

“Forgive me, father.”

“I know it is difficult for you to forget your feelings toward the late princess, but you have to remember what you need to do and not mindlessly give in to violent emotions,” Saazbaum continued scolding him. “Both you and Lemrina are not children anymore; you need to learn how to represent a nation as monar-“

Saazbaum did not get to finish his sentence. He was interrupted by the cursed captain’s stern but calm voice that suddenly sounded from the speakers:

“ _We have sonar contact. Bogey up ahead; most likely a bandit. All hands to battle stations_.”

Slaine looked up at the speaker mounted on the wall above the door to the officers’ mess with eyes wide from shock. A bogey was an unidentifiable target in the water, and a bandit was a hostile target. The cup of warm blood clattered to the deck when he dashed up from his seat with incredible speed and hurried down the corridor toward the control room to meet up with the cursed captain. He had no time to even excuse himself from the table; he had to get to the control room immediately as a sickening excitement bubbled in his entire being; he was terrified and painfully eager at the same time.

The crew on board was hurrying to their stations as well; the passageways were active with cursed submariners who seemed to know exactly where to go and what to do while looking somewhat calm despite their expressions were painted with stress. They were better drilled to perform their duties than Slaine remembered the crew to be on board the Versian warships.

As he entered the command center, he found the cursed captain in the sonar room next doors. He walked up to the door and watched Captain Ramius look at the black and green waterfall on a display in front of him and a sonarman. Each green pixel on the screen was an outside noise caught by the passive sonar system on board the submarine.

“Bearing?” he heard the cursed captain ask the sonarman, who listened intently in the headphones.

“Too faint, sir,” the sonarman answered. “I cannot make up any kind of acoustic signature either, but it is on our starboard side.”

It meant the sonarman had heard a manmade sound in the water, but was not sure of what it was or where its exact location was.

Captain Ramius turned toward his executive officer.

“Rig the boat for ultra-quiet. Seven knots speed should be fine. Load bow torpedo tubes,” he ordered calmly. Then he turned toward the sonarman again: “You shall be in direct contact with me. Notify me once you find the bogey’s position.”

The executive officer took the order with calm and did as he was ordered to, and the sonarman acknowledged his captain’s order and went to work. While the executive officer was calling out the captain’s orders, Slaine stepped up to Ramius.

“Captain?” he asked quietly and heard the submarine get more silent than before as the boat slowed its speed and unnecessary electricity was cut back to not push the systems too hard and thereby silence them.

Ramius turned to Slaine with a confident smile on his lips that soothed some of the nervousness Slaine felt, and said:

“You were right all along, Sir Troyard. The enemy is lurking in our waters.”

“What happens from here?” the young vampire asked.

Had his heart been beating, it would have hammered so hard his entire body would have rocked to the beats.

“We sneak closer, hoping that we can get a bearing on them so we know where they are. Since we have contact, I believe we are closing in on them. Once we know where to approach the enemy, we are ready to fire the torpedoes,” the cursed captain answered quietly to match the silent sound of his boat. “Since the humans are not aware of us being below the surface, this should be quick and easy as we take them off-guard.”

Slaine nodded and tried to calm his mind that was becoming chaotic from waiting for the approaching battle.

“And future enemies will be more difficult to battle as the humans have become aware of our submarine activity after this attack,” the cursed vassal concluded and watched the captain nod.

Saazbaum arrived to the control room just in time to hear the sonarman say:

“Bearing zero-four-one!”

“Steer toward it,” the cursed captain ordered the crewmen immediately, and the submarine began to turn slightly. “Any acoustic signature?”

The cursed man with the headphones held up his right hand as he pushed the other against the left headphone. He had a deep frown on his face as he listened intently, and the entire crew in the proximity was silent to let him listen in peace. At times, he turned the tuners on his equipment to get a clearer sound of the target, and he did this with practiced hands.

Slaine was so terrified and excited he felt his knees tremble. Had he been a human, his body would have been drenched in sweat by now. The anticipation was excruciating. It was a sickening feeling of suspense for something dangerous to happen that made him become nervous enough he forgot to breathe again. Submarines were dangerous – even more dangerous than the cold and empty space among the stars. The intense pressure of the surrounding water made even the slightest damage into a great danger. If the humans would get the chance to fight back…

A chill ran down Slaine’s spine at the thought and he began understanding the fear the cursed creatures felt for going down with ships and submarines; he was slowly getting a perspective on their fear and had already began to feel it himself. If the hull breached, he would be trapped in this claustrophobic space while being surrounded by complete darkness and cold water. His hairs stood on end at the thought, and he felt more and more nauseous the longer this suspense held on.

“Sounds like a diesel-electric,” the cursed sonarman finally said quietly and continued to listen for a little while more while he made rapid and well-trained adjustments on the control panel to filter the sound. “I believe it is a Västergötland-class, sir,” he then answered with confidence. “They are going fast enough I hear cavitation; they cannot hear us, sir.”

“Increase the speed to thirteen knots, XO,” Captain Ramius ordered, and the executive officer did as he was told. “I am not surprised to meet Scandinavians out here,” he murmured. “They obviously underestimate our military activity in the North by sending out their diesel-electric subs rather than their AIP boats.”

“They are busy in the Baltic Sea, Captain,” Saazbaum said quietly to not disturb the ones listening to the enemy submarine. “After Finland and the Baltic countries were taken over, the Scandinavians sent most of their military power to the Baltic Sea to protect the remaining human territories of their peninsula.”

Slaine took a small breath and added with nearly a whisper:

“Their tactic is quite reasonable since Vers has not had any specific activity in the Kola Peninsula that would be of interest for the humans for over a decade. It makes sense for them to use the AIP boats in the hotspots.”

The cursed captain nodded agreeably.

“I was thinking the same thing, my lords,” he said quietly. “The Västergötland is probably up here to guard the northern borders of Vers in case we try to attack their countries from the North. In either case, they are underestimating our forces.” He turned toward the sonarman. “Bearing?”

The cursed sonarman kept listening and adjusting the settings, and then finally answered:

“Bearing zero-four-three,” the cursed sonarman answered.

“They are headed South-South-East,” Captain Ramius murmured. “Follow them.”

It was a long and quiet pursuit. The cursed captain and his crew kept track of the enemy submarine with frequent intervals and reported its bearing to not lose track of it. Slaine waited with horrible anticipation. It was unnerving he could not see his enemy. He could not understand the displays of pixelated waterfalls and he found it terribly difficult to put his life in the cursed submariners’ hands. Perhaps his need to control the situation was a little too great, but he missed the radars on the aircrafts and he missed the ability to have visual contact of an enemy. When he had been in the air in the past, he had always known where the enemies were due to him confirming their position with his sight and radar.

The way Captain Ramius and his crew did it was solely based on passive sonar; listening to the sounds generated by the enemy submarine. They followed the sound rather than a visual target with no ability to actually see the target with their own eyes. The cursed vassal could not wrap his mind around it since he was too dependent on his visual sense. He had read about it in the naval books in the royal palace library and known about the procedures, but to actually experience it like this gave him a sense of dread.

Slaine had to admit that, amidst the unbearable suspense, the submariners were worthy of admiration. They were so well-trained at their tasks and duties on board the boat that it seemed like second nature for them. All of them felt the suspense as well, but they certainly looked calmer than Slaine felt; the cursed blond had to hold onto a railing in order to stay stable, since he had a terrible need to sit down and bury fingers into his hair and take a deep breath – even though he had no need to breathe.

‘ _This is insane_ ,’ he thought as he watched and listened to the cursed captain and his crew interacting. ‘ _This is nothing like flying. It’s like they’re taking chances. They are like bats_.’

Bats… Bat… That was what _he_ had called him. Orange’s hands lingered on his cheeks again the moment Slaine’s thoughts slipped to the comfort he had been given in Tanegashima and in Malaysia. He raised a hand to his left cheek and brushed it with the back of his hand as if he tried to wipe away the phantom sensation. How he wished he could stand strong without the warmth of a human being! He felt pitiful even thinking about the brown-haired boy’s comforting warmth in a terrifying moment like this, and it hurt his pride profoundly.

“Search for the enemy on all active sonars,” Captain Ramius ordered once the noise of the enemy submarine had become louder, scaring Slaine and made him wake up from the thoughts that had escaped to a happy place.

A hollow and extremely loud ping followed, cutting into Slaine’s brain through his sensitive ears. It was so loud and high-pitched he nearly doubled over from his head and ears aching from the horrible shock of sound. It felt like a lightning had hit his brain and his ears felt like they would start bleeding. The ping of active sonar was so loud it created strong pressure waves that either killed or severely wounded all biological creatures in the close proximity, including creatures as big as whales. The shocks did not reach into the submarine, but the sound was still horrible for sensitive ears. Slaine could not help himself from groaning out loud and put hands over his ears as if stabilizing his shocked mind. Saazbaum grunted as well as many of the crew – including the captain; their painful moans and groans were heard all around the compartment.

A second unpleasant sound shook Slaine’s senses as the echo of the ping bounced back with a pong, and then the sonarman exclaimed:

“Target range six-thousand-seven-hundred meters, Captain! Target angle one-five-two! Elevation angle zero!”

“Prepare to fire!” the cursed captain ordered and the executive officer’s voice was soon heard as he relayed the order to the operators in the control room, and then summarized and relayed their answers:

“Flooding tubes. Outer torpedo doors open. Ready to fire, Captain!”

“Hull-popping noises! They are surfacing!” the sonarman exclaimed.

The submarine continued pinging with rapid intervals, leaving Slaine and other cursed creatures in great pain that the vassal and a couple of other crewmembers fell down on their knees while trying to protect their ears and brain from the excruciating pulses of sound as Ramius and his crew tracked the target. Slaine felt as if he was standing inside a great bell that was hit by a hammer over and over again; his sensitive hearing made the rapid active sonar sounds feel as though his skull would burst and he got tears in his eyes. Saazbaum seemed to be feeling the same pain; the cursed man had covered his ears and gritted his teeth, just like Slaine, and leaned forward while squeezing his eyes tightly shut from the pain.

“They know we are here from the pings. Recheck fire solution,” Captain Ramius – who endured the pain – ordered, and within moments the executive officer answered:

“Solution confirmed, Captain.”

The pings went quiet, and the blond vassal staggered up onto his feet from the floor while still holding his aching head. He grabbed the railing again and took a deep breath to collect himself.

With a chill running down his spine, Slaine looked up to see the cursed captain immediately order:

“Fire torpedo one and two!”

The operator in charge with the firing controls answered immediately:

“Firing one…” A dull ejecting sound was heard from the bow of the submarine as the torpedo was pushed out of the torpedo tube with water pressure, and then a high-pitched screech – made by the torpedo propeller – took over and began disappearing toward the distance. “Firing two…” The same sound was heard again as the second torpedo was launched.

“Torpedo one and two fired, Captain,” the executive officer relayed and Slaine listened intently to the sound that began to grow distant for each second that passed.

The entire Versian submarine waited silently. The crew in the control room stared at the crew in the sonar and weapon sections who worked together to guide the torpedoes toward the enemy. The torpedoes were guided by a wire at first, which transferred corrective information about the target’s position from the control room on board the K-461, and then the wire was cut and the torpedoes continued to track their target with active sonar, sending out rapid pings and followed the echoing pongs as the sound bounced back to them from the enemy submarine.

“Countermeasures launched,” the sonarman exclaimed.

The enemy was trying to protect themselves by launching countermeasures that sent out a signal that resembled a submarine to lure the torpedoes to them instead of the targeted boat. The torpedoes had already locked onto the enemy with active sonar, which made the countermeasures hopefully less likely to become the torpedoes’ new targets.

All the crew on board the Versian shark could do was to wait and listen to the sound that would confirm whatever happened out there in the darkness. Again, the suspense began to take its toll on Slaine and made him grip the railing harder as he listened to the sounds outside the pressure hulls. For each second that passed, the harder he squeezed the railing until his fingers, hand and arm ached, and a harrowing fear of the dark water began to grow.

Then, a sound of a dull explosion reached the K-461 and the sonarman said:

“One torpedo detonation confirmed. No hull breach detected. Other torpedo is still active.”

“The torpedo was taken by the countermeasures. Let us hope the last one finds the true target,” the cursed captain said quietly with a stern look in his eyes, watching the pixilated waterfall on the screen before him and the sonarman. He looked tense, as if he was nervous.

‘ _Who wouldn’t be?_ ’ Slaine thought and felt his knees tremble as if he was about to fall down on them again.

A hand landed on the cursed vassal’s shoulder and Slaine knew immediately who it was as his cells began resonating with joy. He looked up at Saazbaum looking back at him with a soothing expression. It was as if the cursed man told him to stay calm and trust the crew. Slaine must have looked as nervous as he felt for his father to give him the silent support he was offered, and – for a moment – Slaine felt grateful for it. He had never done anything as dangerous as this, and the claustrophobic submarine made it feel as if panic was trying to eat him alive.

“Five-hundred meters to target,” the sonarman said and began calculating down.

The cursed captain took a look of a stop watch hanging around his neck. He had been wearing it ever since he had boarded the submarine, and it was not until now Slaine saw him use it. He pushed the top button to start the timer.

“Eleven seconds,” he said.

“Three-hundred meters!”

“Six seconds. Five. Four. Three. Two…”

“One-hundred meters!” The sonarman went silent for a little while and everyone on board seemed to hold their breaths and time stood still for the short moment before an explosion went off somewhere in the distance. “Detonation! Hull breaching noises detected! Enemy submarine is hit!”

The hand resting on Slaine’s shoulder gave him a reassuring squeeze and the crew around them cheered as the nervousness from facing an enemy beneath the surface turned into great relief. Slaine’s knees wanted to immediately give way beneath him from the relief rather than anxiousness, and he quickly supported himself heavier against the railing he had been gripping. His grip had been so strong he had warped the railing with his superhuman strength and he noticed it now that he was calm enough to actually care about such mindless things. The cursed blond smiled from relief and panted for breath.

Captain Ramius turned toward Slaine and Saazbaum with a pleased smile on his lips, and said:

“Congratulations, Sir Troyard. I believe this first submarine mission was a success. We will have to wait and confirm the kill, but I would like to hear what your orders are from here.”

Slaine stared at him for a short moment to collect his scattered thoughts, before he straightened his back and released a long breath to calm down, and said:

“Well done, Captain Ramius. You and your men shall be greatly rewarded for your honorable performance. Take us back to port in Polyarny as soon as you have confirmed the target has sunk.”

‘ _We did it_ ,’ he thought with indescribable excitement and excused himself from the control room. ‘ _Our submarine fleets will come back to life. The elitists can’t deny me it!_ ’

The walk to the mess was filled with cheering men around him and Saazbaum, who accompanied Slaine to the officers’ mess. The cup of blood Slaine had accidentally knocked to the floor lay where it had landed, and the blond young vampire picked it up from the deck and put it in the cabinet for dirty dishes, and then leaned against the bulkhead next to the cabinet. He slumped against it from emotional exhaustion.

“All battles are filled with tension and suspense, but I must say this was the most suspenseful one thus far,” Saazbaum said as he closed the door behind him to isolate them from the crew outside. “A submarine is a frightening vessel for us cursed, but with a confident crew like this anything can be made possible.”

Slaine turned his eyes toward the cursed man while still feeling shaken by the experience. It had been his first official battle with the humans and his first time to carry the responsibility of its conclusions and consequences. A rush of confidence washed over him and soothed his upset mind as he saw the prideful gleam in Saazbaum’s dark eyes.

“Father?” he asked as he watched Saazbaum stare back at him with a smile and with hands behind his back, standing tall as the cursed count he was.

“I believe you are ready, Slaine,” he listened to him say quietly.

“Ready?” the cursed blond asked and felt something great and undefinable approach him.

“I have decided to release your chain, Slaine. When we arrive to the capital city, I shall announce to the assembly of nobles that the Cruhteo Fleet I own will be given to you. I believe you are ready to take command of your own fleet after this mission.”

‘ _What?!_ ’

Slaine could not believe what he heard. Saazbaum was going to ease his leash and give him slightly more reign with his own fleet.

“B-but father,” Slaine said as a tremble shot through him. “What about the submarine fleets that I-?”

“You are quick to learn and are eager even,” his father interrupted his objection. “I have full faith in you, my son, to represent your own and my family names on the seas. If the nobles will not accept your proposal of restoring the submarines and take them into use, then at least you have your own fleet. V.E.S. Tharsis and the warships that were owned by Cruhteo will be under your command, and if your submarine fleets are accepted by the elitists, then you shall command one surface fleet and three submersible fleets under my name.”

Just like that, the mighty V.E.S. Tharsis – that had been under repair in the eastern part of Vers – was in Slaine’s possession, and he would possibly become the future leader of the submarine divisions and brigades in the previous Northern Fleet, Pacific Fleet and Baltic Fleet, all collected under the same name. It was ridiculous what power would possibly rest in his hands by the time the month of October had come to its end.

‘ _My own fleet_ ,’ he thought and felt overwhelmed. It was finally happening. ‘ _The Troyard Fleet…_ ’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry there was no Inaho-part in this one. He is out there doing his usual thing of fighting, so I wanted to put all focus on Slaine right now since his rise in power is starting. *been waiting for this for soooo long* I hope I didn't bore any of you with the submarine mumbo jumbo. Also, I really wanted to write about the Murmansk fjord since I've traveled through it and seen it myself, and I described it just as I remember it. It's one of the eeriest places I've experienced; a perfect place for the future Troyard HQ!


	28. Pivoting Trap 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter ahead!

“Our network of sonarbuoys in the northern part of Vers has deteriorated over the years since all our anti-submarine warfare resources have been taken away from our motherland’s coast and shared with you nobles,” he said and looked at the assembly before him in the grand hall where all the cursed counts and countesses were called for a meeting by an urgent request by his father; Saazbaum.

It had been just a couple of days since the Saazbaum family had returned from the submarine mission and was back in the capital city to report the mission’s results. Just as the last time, the nobles attended the meeting either in person or by satellite, and all were present since no one wanted to miss out on an opportunity to keep an eye on each other. The cursed nobles were a highly suspecting group of beings that worked solely for themselves and paid little to no interest in the others’ success. There seemed to be an unworded belief that the one with the shiniest tower of scrap was the top dog of this unruly gang of proud and privileged mutts.

“That is awfully accusatory of you, Sir Saazbaum Troyard,” Countess Rafia said with a troubled frown on her serious expression. “We have a great need for the resources ourselves to protect our fleets from the humans’ submarines.”

Rafia was the one roaming in the Baltic Sea, fighting off the Swedish, Norwegian and remaining Finnish fleets and submarines along with Count Zebrin, to win over the entire Scandinavian Peninsula.

“Rather than to protect our nation’s borders in the North?” Slaine asked and a murmur swept through the small crowd. “You must understand that Vers has been stripped bare of its own resources; there is nothing to protect our nation from the humans if they decide to attack from North. I believe my mission in the Barents Sea shows we are underestimating the humans since they clearly have some kind of interest in the Versian North. We have no one up there to protect that part of our border; it is a wide gate for the enemy to venture through onto our land.”

“Hmph!” he heard a familiar voice exclaim and Slaine’s eyes landed on the prideful Count Marylcian. He glared back at Slaine with his legs dramatically crossed and eyed him like an overly confident predator watching its prey. “So you suggest we give you the North and allow you to use the submarines; to give you the key to the most destructive weapons we have? You can destroy the entire continent of Europe and Asia with one of those things. Why would we trust yo-?”

“I must ask for your pardon for speaking this freely, but your arguments founded on nothing but groundless suspicions toward me is getting tiresome, Count Marylcian,” Slaine interrupted the proud cursed man, whose left eye twitched from anger at being so rudely disrupted from finishing his poisonous remark. Someone in the crowd chuckled discreetly, angering the proud count further. “I am just as much a Versian citizen as you, my lord, and I want to protect my motherland from enemy attacks. I believe you are claiming land in the Mediterranean, are you not?” Slaine made a short pause to glare at the cursed count but continued before Marylcian had seized the chance to speak; interrupting him the moment the count took a breath to speak: “I am not interested in land outside our borders. I am acutely concerned of who is protecting our own nation rather than expanding it. It would be an honor to take on that duty if this committee grants me the power to do just that, hence why I stand here now after having demonstrated why there is an urgency to see to our nation’s security.”

“If we grant you the power of missile carrying submarines and let you guard our borders, what stops you from taking over the nation?” Count Barouhcruz asked with a somewhat neutral tone to his voice. However, his eyes narrowed – conveying what he truly thought about Slaine.

Slaine made a pause and lowered his head slightly and closed his eyes in an attempt to show them his sincerity.

“Our late Royal Family of Vers,” he said with a weighty tone. The grand hall became fittingly as silent as a grave. “After the family’s demise, our nation has been left in turmoil and confusion of who will lead us until Her Highness Lemrina Vers Envers is ready to take the throne. The sacrifices our Royal Family made should not be for naught. In honor of their name and the motherland they built for us, I wish to devote my undead life to protect what they left behind from those who are responsible for the family’s passing.” He looked up at everyone in the grand hall. “If someone else wishes to take on this duty and give up the land they have won in Vers’s name in order to return to our motherland, then I will not stand in your way. However, the best way to protect our northern borders is with submarines since they cannot be seen and predicted and will thereby warn the enemy from approaching Vers. As I have been the one to push this idea forward, I believe I am best suited for this dangerous task. I am ready to face what it may bring. All I need is this assembly’s blessing to restore and commission our submarine fleets once again.”

The wolf watched as a murmur swept through the assembly again when the elitists shared thoughts with each other about the matter. They always did that, as if trying to confirm with their neighbors if their own opinions were the right ones or trying to impose their beliefs on the other to win an ally. It was always easier to look around for confirmation instead of thinking of opinions based on own values and norms. It was strange, the silver-coated wolf thought, that the pack of individualized dogs – without any interest in cooperating with each other under the same banner – had to consult each other in how to vote.

‘ _Am I that threatening?_ ’ Slaine wondered as he waited for the pack to come to some kind of conclusion.

There was one dog in the group who did not share her thoughts with the others, and that was the cursed countess who had been the first to vote positively for Slaine’s plan to go out with a submarine to inspect the waters around the Versian North:

“Since you have been personally trained and schooled by Count Saazbaum, and have been honored with his name as well, I see no reason to mistrust you, Sir Troyard, since Count Saazbaum is a well trusted man with a long time of spotless loyalty to the Royal Family,” Countess Azelein said with a satisfied smile. “I believe most of us are curious to see what you can do in the name of Vers, the Royal Family as well as both of your family names. If Count Saazbaum trusts you, then I shall do that as well. I vote in your favor, Sir Troyard.”

Slaine gave her a slight bow with his head and answered:

“I sincerely thank you for your trust, Count Azelein.”

“I concur to Countess Azelein’s reasoning,” a voice said, and Slaine found it belonged to Count Orga – another second generation vampire who was around the same age as Saazbaum in both appearance and bygone time. “I believe our nation should be looked after and, since you willingly want to take on the duty of patrolling our unguarded northern borders, I see no reason to deny you that. You are a son of Count Saazbaum and a product of his ideologies. I vote in your favor, Sir Saazbaum Troyard,” the cursed count declared.

It somewhat hurt to hear what kind of image they had of Slaine – that he was a product of Saazbaum’s brainwashing. It was not true. Slaine had been obedient solely because he had to, not because Saazbaum had reprogrammed him. Of course, he could not tell anyone that since he had to hide behind Saazbaum’s name and pride in order to get by as a cursed vassal, but he still wished to be allowed to be his own person.

‘ _I haven’t been that for a long while…_ ’ he thought saddened.

“I sincerely thank you for your trust, Count Orga,” Slaine said anyway, bowing to the cursed count the same way as to Countess Azelein.

“It is unbelievable how you willingly want to subject yourself to such danger as boarding a submarine and make the northern cold part of Vers into your territory; your bravery is admirable and your sense of duty and loyalty for our nation is remarkable,” the third generation vampire Count Keterastesse said with a slight but stern smile on his lips. “I vote in your favor, Sir Saazbaum Troyard.”

It was easier than Slaine had thought from the start. Three nobles had already accepted his request, and a fourth followed by satellite:

“ _I have great respect for Count Saazbaum and his tireless loyalty for Vers and the Royal Family. Even though you, Sir Troyard, are recently cursed, I have to stay true to my conviction that Saazbaum has trained you well and in his image. As long as you serve our motherland with the same kind of loyalty as your father, you have my faith. I vote in your favor_.”

It was the dramatic voice of Count Selkinas who was battling NATO in North America. Slaine remembered him as someone who looked down upon humans and thought of them as primitive apes. It was a surprise that this second generation vampire was giving Slaine – someone who had been a human just recently – his blessing as well.

“I sincerely thank you for your trust, Count Selkinas,” Slaine answered with the same manner as before.

Now that four cursed nobles – five if he included Saazbaum – had given him their consent of claiming the northern part of Vers as his territory, more and more elitists began to follow their pattern. Of the remaining thirty-four clans, twenty-five clans gave Slaine their consent. Since it was a democratic assembly, it meant Slaine had been given territory and the right to command the submarine fleets. This conclusion made his mind spin with shock. Even if he had somewhat expected to get the majority of their votes, it was still a shock so many had agreed to giving the northern part of Vers to him.

He saw Saazbaum give him an approving nod and the eyes of a proud father glinted behind the aristocratic look of a cursed count.

Once Slaine had sworn loyalty to the Vers Empire before the entire assembly, Saazbaum was the next one to take place behind the podium, and announced the change in ownership of the late Count Cruhteo’s fleet. The assembly of cursed nobles was initially shocked of hearing Saazbaum hand over the entire Cruhteo Fleet to Slaine – who already had gotten the submarine fleets – and some even argued that it would have been information they should have known before they voted for Slaine’s right to use the submarines.

Marylcian and his henchman Barouhcruz were of course erratically arguing that it would have made a difference in how the assembly would have voted. They even argued that the late count’s fleet did not belong to Count Saazbaum and was not his to give away to his own son, since – apparently – Count Cruhteo had a son himself who had not finished his military training yet. The Cruhteo fleet belonged to his son, Marylcian claimed.

However, since the entire system with the elite clans had become rowdy even before the Royal Family had passed away, with everyone fighting for their own interests to the point where they even fought each other, Saazbaum used that crack in the system and argued that he had the right to claim a fleet he had won over in a battle for territory. According to him, Cruhteo had trespassed onto his waters and Saazbaum had told Cruhteo to leave. When the cruel cursed count had refused, Saazbaum had fired his cannons.

‘ _He’s talking about the time when he saved me from Cruhteo’s torture?_ ’ Slaine thought and realized Saazbaum was lying to the assembly. ‘ _He attacked Cruhteo because my former master learned the truth about the princess, and to save me in the same process_.’ He could still remember the pain he had been subjected to during the torture back then; the torture that had left eternal marks on his skin.

The meeting ended with Slaine being given the three large submarine fleets around Vers, and the Cruhteo Fleet that now was renamed to the Troyard Fleet. When Slaine left the grand hall and walked toward Asseylum’s room along with Harklight after he had parted with Saazbaum, he began to realize what power he held. He had so much military weaponry he could – with the blink of an eye – destroy the entire earth with firepower.

‘ _I’m the most powerful man on earth…_ ’ he thought shocked and stopped walking as the realization hit him. He slumped against the wall and looked up at the ceiling with marvelous paintings from a long time ago. ‘ _Now I own over hundred nuclear warhead missiles and thousands of submarine torpedoes – some of which carry nuclear warheads as well…_ ’

“My lord?” he heard Harklight’s voice next to him, and Slaine dropped his gaze on him.

“Do you know what keeps me from setting the entire world on fire, Harklight?” he asked breathlessly and eyed Harklight without blinking. “Figuratively speaking of course.”

The blood sacrifice frowned.

“I am afraid I do not, my lord,” he answered carefully, unsure of what Slaine meant by it.

“Princess Asseylum,” he said quietly. “Her Highness’s dream is the only thing standing in my way of going insane and taking the world down with me in a blazing storm.”

Harklight looked at him somewhat unsure at first, as if Slaine’s words had wakened worry in the blood sacrifice’s thoughts.

‘ _I think I’m losing it_ ,’ Slaine thought and watched the young man contemplate on the seriousness of what the cursed creature had said. ‘ _Someone… Stop me from going mad like this; I’m spinning out of control with anger and hate._ ’

“What was her dream, my lord? I never got the pleasure and honor of meeting her,” the manservant finally said.

Slaine sighed as it hurt to voice the dream of his sleeping beloved that would never come true.

“She wished for humans and cursed to live together in peace,” the cursed blond said quietly and leaned his head back against the wall behind him to stare at the beautiful paintings of celestial beings above them. “That there would not be any discrimination between us and both sides could live together like symbiotic creatures. It was her reason for the goodwill visit last year – the goodwill visit that had her _murdered_ by the humans.”

The manservant gave Slaine a warm smile and answered:

“Her dream sounds absolutely beautiful.”

Slaine frowned heavily. He felt disappointed; Harklight had not tried to correct the destructive thoughts Slaine had voice just moments earlier.

“It was,” he whispered and then pushed himself off the wall and began walking down the corridor again to visit his sleeping beloved. “Now, it will never become reality – and I am taking part of swinging that battering ram to tear down her dream entirely.” He gritted his teeth for a moment as the gravity of his actions was chewing at his emotional heart, and sighed: “I’m the worst…”

As they got to the private royal wing of the palace and rounded the corner to the corridor where Asseylum’s room was located, Slaine stopped dead in his tracks at the familiar sight of a platina-blonde girl who was sitting in a wheelchair, waiting in front of the room and staring at the door with vacant eyes. It was as if she saw what lay behind the door in front of her.

“Princess Lemrina,” Slaine said with a stern voice as he felt a great worry bubble up. “What is Your Highness doing here?”

She slowly turned her eyes toward the young vampire who began hurriedly walking toward her as if to stop her from breaking down the locked door into the room where Asseylum’s corpse lay in deep sleep.

“This is my family’s palace,” she said with a silent voice that sounded like a snake hissing. Her eyes were still empty of emotion and the air between Slaine and her was still toxic. “And I will soon own it myself. This room will belong to me sooner or later, Sir Troyard, and I would like to see what it looks like since I have been denied of seeing it thus far.”

“That is not possible, Your Highness,” Slaine answered and felt distressed; Lemrina had never voiced an interest in seeing her sister’s room before, and that was a reason to why the cursed vassal felt worried of her presence. “That room belongs to the late princess and should be treated as sacred ground. Only those who are authorized are allowed in there.”

Then, as Slaine stopped in front of her and guarded the door behind him while glaring at the cursed princess, Lemrina’s eyes flickered with anger, and she stared at him with passionate jealousy.

“As your future wife, I feel disrespected by you, Sir Troyard,” she said with a slightly deeper tone as if warning him from further angering her. “And as the late princess’s sister, I feel denied of getting to know who she was. Let me inside, sir Troyard.”

Slaine bore his eyes into hers and leaned forward, and then slammed his hands onto the armrests of her wheelchair hard enough the metal creaked with protest. Lemrina did not flinch, knowing Slaine would not hurt her. She rather stared at him as he hovered his face just a decimeter from hers.

“As my future wife,” he whispered threateningly. “You shall respect my privacy – which you have not. You are not allowed in there.”

A muscle on Lemrina’s beautiful countenance twitched from anger, and a sudden slap resounded in the corridor. It was no ordinary slap over the cheek; it stung so horribly against Slaine’s sensitive skin that a pained noise escaped his lips and he nearly lost his balance. Lemrina had slapped him harder than a human could ever do, making his left cheek awfully tender.

“Once I am the queen, I will open that door and empty the room entirely – even of my sister’s corpse,” the cursed princess growled. “You are mine, Slaine Saazbaum Troyard. I have had enough of your rebellion!”

“Yours…?” Slaine said with a deep voice thick with fury. “Your empty threats are getting on my nerves, Your Highness. Leave.”

“Slaine Troyard! You will not talk to me like-!” she began in a desperate attempt to have the last word, but was interrupted by her future fiancé:

“I will bed you tonight if that is what you wish! I will give you all the attention you want later, but not now!”

“That is not what I want! I do not solely yearn for your cold body, Slaine!”

“THAT IS ALL YOU WILL GET!” the blond vampire yelled. “If that is not enough, then I have nothing more to offer you! I have no warmth to give you!”

She was panicking all because she knew she had lost control of Slaine. She had probably a horrible premonition of an oncoming catastrophe, hence she had tailed him like a shadow and been nothing but a bother in Slaine’s already busy world after Slaine and Saazbaum had come back from the Murmansk Oblast.

Tears formed in the cursed princess’s lonely eyes as she stared at Slaine with anger. Her hunger was unending; Slaine would never be able to satisfy that kind of hunger. A chill crawled up his back like a spider, warning him she would go out of hand any moment.

‘ _What do I do? I need more authority so I can heighten the security around this room!_ ’ he thought troubled.

Lemrina took a deep breath after a while and then said sternly:

“Then create warmth, Sir Troyard. This time, it is your turn to warm up your corpse for me.”

She left with those commanding words ringing in Slaine’s ears. She was trying to humiliate him, to let him know he belonged to her no matter in what form. Her moans and gasps from the nights of warped and comforting lust had been louder and sultrier than before after he had come back from the North, and Slaine had been forced to desperately hold onto the coaxing smile of the unknown person to be able to fulfill the carnal activity. The fuzzy smile had gotten an incredible charge of sexual excitement to it; the moment the cursed blond even thought about the smile, his body began responding immediately.

“My lord?” Harklight asked and woke Slaine from his thoughts.

The young vampire looked up at his manservant and blinked to clear his mind, and then turned around and picked up the key to Asseylum’s room from inside his grey uniform. The key had been hanging around his neck along with his father’s talisman, and the talisman had been tangled up in the key and fell out onto his chest. Slaine stared at it for a short moment – remembering he had given it to Asseylum back in Shinawara before Orange had returned it to him – before unlocking the door and entering the sleeping cursed princess’s room.

“My lord,” Eddelrittuo said and stood up from the chair she had been sitting on next to the sleeping Asseylum. She gave him a bow. “Welcome back, my lord. Forgive me if I ask, but I heard some commotion outside the room just now: What was going on out there?”

Slaine let Harklight step into the room first since he felt a need to be in control of the door because of the feeling of uneasiness, which he closed and locked after both of the young men had stepped into the room.

“Lemrina is getting more and more unruly,” Slaine said worried as he walked closer to the bed where his beloved lay asleep. “We need to keep an eye on Princess Asseylum; I cannot trust her sister at all.”

“You believe she will try something, my lord?” Eddelrittuo asked worried as well.

“I fear our dear princess’s life will be in danger if things keep spiraling out of control like this,” Slaine said and walked up to the sleeping princess. He knelt next to her bed and lovingly brushed away a strand of golden hair from her eyes; her bangs were getting longer. “Harklight,” he then said and heard his manservant respond in the respectful way he always did. “I have heard we have a sauna here in the palace. Will you prepare it for me? I believe I have to keep Lemrina happy for now to calm her down.”

Harklight obeyed his master’s orders and Slaine got up to show him out of the room and lock the door behind him. Before he and Harklight parted, Slaine stopped him:

“I want you to accompany me in the sauna,” he said quietly. “Is that all right with you? You are allowed to turn me down, Harklight; I wish not to impose my needs on you.”

The manservant stared at Slaine for a short moment, before he nodded.

“Of course I will accompany you if you wish me to, my lord,” the human young man answered, and Slaine smiled with relief.

“Thank you. I owe you for all the things you do for me,” the young vampire said.

“My duty is to see to your wellbeing, my lord,” the dark-haired human said and bowed to his master. “Thank you for entrusting me with your wishes.”

With that, Harklight left to prepare the sauna where Slaine would warm up his body for Lemrina, and the cursed vassal returned to Asseylum’s side.

“Young lord,” Eddelrittuo said. Slaine felt her eyes on him as he removed the talisman from around his neck. “Are you all right?”

“I feel fine,” the cursed blond answered with a lie and put the talisman into Asseylum’s hand that rested on her stomach. “Let this keep you safe once again,” he then whispered to her and slumped down onto the chair next to the bed.

“Would you kindly look at me, Sir Troyard?” the young handmaiden requested after she stepped closer. When Slaine obeyed, the little girl frowned deeply. “You have those cold eyes again, my lord…”

The cursed vassal took a deep breath and closed his eyes and leaned his head back on the chair’s backrest.

“I seem to have this look in my eyes more frequently,” he mumbled. “Saazbaum warns me about it as well. It was going so well a while ago; I had managed to hide it, but now it seems I am losing control of my self-discipline.”

“Forgive me if I am outspoken, but you look haunting and frightening like that,” the handmaiden said hesitantly. “You have changed a lot since you were cursed, my lord, and I am afraid you are spinning out of control,” she said quietly, almost as if she was ashamed of saying something as cruel as that.

“You might be correct,” the blond vassal sighed and looked at her. “I remember how all of you were horrified of the look in my eyes when I first woke up as a cursed creature. I have been thinking about it, since I noticed everyone except Harklight were afraid of me in the beginning.”

“He is a human,” Eddelrittuo said and turned to look at Asseylum. “He cannot see what we see.”

Slaine stared at her without blinking, resting his eyes on her tiny frame while trying to study Eddelrittuo’s expression.

“And what did you see, Miss Eddelrittuo?” he asked with a whisper and patiently waited for her answer.

Eddelrittuo looked at him and then lowered her eyes with shame.

“The eyes of a devil,” she whispered.

Slaine scoffed amused.

“I have heard that angels never make hearts flutter the way a devil does,” he chuckled tiredly. “I guess there is some truth to it then.”

“Forgive me for being so outspoken, my lord…” the handmaiden continued mumbling. “How did the voting go?”

Slaine collected his exhausted mind and then answered bluntly and told her what power he now harbored. Eddelrittuo stared at him with horror.

“Please, my lord, do not act on impulse now that you have this power bestowed upon you,” she said immediately. “If you do, you know our princess will pay the price.”

Slaine sighed heavily.

“I know…” he mumbled. “You cannot trust me, can you?”

Eddelrittuo hesitated for a short moment before she found the honest words she had to speak.

“You became erratic the moment you were cursed, my lord,” the petite handmaiden said. “Your attachments to others are warped; you seek out comfort from anyone you can find; anyone will do. Once you have drained them from comfort, you turn your back on them and become cold and dismissal as if you want to keep them at distance. Right now, you are feeding off Harklight, my lord.”

Slaine stared at her for a while and let her words linger in his thoughts to find his ground on the matter. At the same time as he was surprised to hear her say such an outrageous thing, he also knew she was right. He had no one more stable than Asseylum; everyone else were momentary bonds he created to survive in this maddening world. They only mattered to him for as long as he felt appreciated by them and got something that filled the endless void he had always carried inside him ever since he was a child. He had done that with his biological father, and he had done that with Eddelrittuo and Saazbaum, then Lemrina and now Harklight. Even an enemy had been welcome; Orange; Inaho Kaizuka.

“I wonder,” he said quietly and felt Eddelrittuo tense up, probably from fear of him being angry at her for being so honest with him. “If I am terrified of bonds.”

He rested his eyes on Asseylum again and realized all his bonds to others had been brief ever since he had been born because of his father and Slaine moving around a lot; he had never had the chance to keep any friends and it had always been painful to break the small bonds he had managed to create before it was time to move again. The only one who had held his hand safely had been Princess Asseylum; she had reached out to him and had not hesitated to give him what he had been hungry for, and her well of comfort had been deeper than anyone else’s; it had never been emptied.

“You are biting the hand that feeds you, Sir Troyard,” Eddelrittuo continued as she noticed Slaine had not gotten angry at her for being so frank with him. “You always do that with people; use them and toss them away. I worry for your sake, but also for our dear princess’s sake, that you are unintentionally going to blow from all this pressure. Do not let that happen, my lord, and especially not now that you have this power in your hands.”

Slaine let out a complaining noise and massaged his tender cheek that had begun to heal.

“My body is bewitched by the devil; making me incredibly strong,” he said while thinking. “And now I have more weapon power than any man on earth. On top of that, I am passionate enough I have difficulties of controlling my emotions, and I have a warped relationship to others, making me believe I am alone in this world.” He sighed heavily. “I guess plenty of things could get out of hand.”

He knew he was treading on thin ice, and he was getting too tired to care. The only thing keeping him from stomping on the ice to break it was the fear for Asseylum’s life.

“Forgive me, Slaine,” Eddelrittuo whispered and knitted her tiny hands together in front of the skirt to her dress and bowed to him. “I fear that if I keep this from you, I will be guilty of a disservice and, right now, too much is at stake for me to stay silent.”

“Worry not, Eddelrittuo,” Slaine said and looked at her after his arms slumped down onto the armrests of the chair. “You have done nothing wrong. Thank you for trying to clear things up by being honest.”

‘ _However, I believe you are doing it in vain… I truly believe I am losing my mind, and I am helplessly becoming bad at hiding it_ ,’ he thought while smiling gently.

†††

“And so she was like ‘nuh I dun wanna’ and canceled the date. Oh man!” Calm complained with a grumble and released a hopeless sigh. “I will die a virgin, and what’s worse is that I’ll have to see her in the corridors and face the humiliation of having been turned down.”

“You were too pushy about it,” Inko scolded him as they sat in the hangar bay of Deucalion and enjoyed the warm temperatures and the pleasant moisture of the tropical rain.

“It was too obvious of what your intensions were with that date,” Rayet joined in while she was polishing her boots with shoe wax in the protective veil of a shadow. “Desperation is never attractive.”

Calm had been going through a troubling time most teenagers went through, with such curiosity about being intimate with someone that he had a minor crisis about the inability to get a date and become a “proper grownup” – as he so simply put it. Inaho and the others in their usual band of friends had listened to the troubled teenage boy who wanted to “advance” – as Calm also put it – and lose his virginity.

Inaho thought the other seemed strangely obsessive about it, but he had heard others in the same age as them speak about sexual intercourse as something mysterious and thrilling. He himself, however, had little to no interest in it, but he enjoyed listening to his friends talk about things that were common for their age. They were always so serious and professional, and terribly dutiful as soldiers when facing a battle, but the moment there was peace and calm like this, they became their usual selves and spoke about nothing but trivial matters that seemed crucial for their transition from teenagers to young adults. They spoke about body image and fashion, showed insecurities and consulted each other about them, worried about how others saw them and when they would get their first boyfriends and girlfriends, and more.

“Despera-?! Hey! That’s mean!” the westerner shouted. “I bet all of you are interested in _it_!”

Inko and Nina blushed somewhat – especially Nina who always seemed to have a naïve aura around her – and they silently admitted to Calm’s remark without answering.

“Why do you define a grownup with having sexual intercourse?” Inaho wondered out loud, and the three human teenagers around him blushed horribly.

“B-because it’s a step toward adulthood, isn’t it?” Inko asked naively with a quivering voice while she desperately tried to cope with her embarrassment by squirming somewhat with her entire body.

“The fact that you all blush like that shows what kids you are,” Rayet teased and spat on her leather shoe to keep polishing it, and chuckled: “You can’t even name this ‘it’ with the correct name as sex or sexual intercourse without writhing from embarrassment.”

Calm grumbled while blushing horribly, and glared at Rayet.

“Oh, a know-it-all, huh? What, so you have had…?” He went silent and cleared his throat to rephrase his question as the words he had tried to say were obviously too charged with embarrassment that not even his hurt pride would allow him to speak them: “So you have been _intimate_ with someone and know all about it? Bah!”

Rayet turned her violet eyes to the boy and grinned.

“What if I have?” she asked, and all three embarrassed and shocked teenagers let out a loud gasp of surprise and bewilderment. “It’s not that special, so just relax.”

The cursed girl chuckled satisfied from causing a shock of surprise and confusion amongst her friends, and continued polishing her shoes while refusing to answer the others’ questions. They tried to bribe from her when she had done it and with whom, and how it had felt and been done. Rayet chuckled to their questions, not bothering to even give them a single answering sign by nodding or shaking her head; she simply pretended she could not hear them while grinning widely as she continued with polishing her shoes.

Inaho wondered what the major interest in sexual intercourse was about. He had never really bothered to think about such things, nor had he reflected on what he thought about it himself since there had not been a need to. Perhaps it was time for him to challenge himself and try to define what it meant for him? Even if it was comfortable to not bother with things that had no meaning for him, perhaps he would understand more about others if he had his own view on things others thought were important?

He had heard the mantra of “know thyself” float around society before the war, and perhaps there was some kind of truth to it despite he still thought of the matter of defining oneself as quite pointless. A psychologist at the research facility had agreed with him when Inaho had told her about his way of thinking, which perhaps was an effect from his personality disorder, saying that a person could be far more complex than what any definition could describe, but she had also told him that it would not hurt to try; if nothing else, it could be a tricky but fun voyage to try answering the question of “who am I?”.

After everything that had happened – the war and all the blood and fresh and old corpses he had encountered – he had begun to rethink his relationships to people and come to the conclusion that the psychologist had been right; it would not hurt to do something as pointless as trying to define who he was since not everything had to show useful results and measurable data.

“It would be interesting to try it someday,” Inaho suddenly said, and the next wave of shock and confusion washed over their little group, this time with Rayet joining in and staring at him with wide eyes.

“What?! You?!” Calm exclaimed.

“Shouldn’t I?” the brunet asked and looked at his friend, who seemed to drop his head any moment from shock.

“O-of course, but it’s surprising to h-hear it from you,” Inko said and blushed terribly.

“It’s nothing you have shown interest in before,” Nina noted, also with a blush, but her cheeks were not as flaring as Inko’s.

Inaho raised his eyebrows to let them know he was somewhat taken aback by their reaction, and said:

“You all speak about it as if it’s something really special, so I think it’s rather natural for me to be curious and want to find out why.”

Calm shuffled closer and put a friendly arm around his shoulders, and pulled him close and force him into an uncomfortable position.

“My friend,” he said with a melodic purr and made a dramatic gesture with his hand over the sea. “There are plenty of girls of every type out there in all shapes and colors. Which type is yours?” he then asked and peered teasingly at the brunet.

“Your way of viewing girls is, frankly speaking, moronic,” Rayet grumbled.

“Type?” Inaho asked confused and Calm sighed.

“You know,” he said and rolled his eyes. “The type of girl you want to do _it_ with.”

‘ _The type of girl I want to do it with?_ ’ Inaho thought and pondered on the thought. He was unsure of what Calm meant with “type”, but aqua colored eyes, pale and soft skin and a crown of silver floated into his mind as he mused about a possibly interesting sex partner. ‘ _It’s not a girl, though…_ ’

“The European type, I guess,” the brunet decided to say, and Calm’s mouth dropped open along with everyone else’s. “From Northern Europe to be exact.”

“What?! I never knew blonde hair and blue eyes were your thing, dude!” Calm said while not even trying to hide his astonishment. “You have a really specific taste as well. I’m surprised!”

Inaho registered a shift in Inko’s expression. She had gone from excited to downhearted, and the brown-haired boy immediately understood he had hurt her feelings; she was in love with him and he knew it all too well. Then again, she had to accept it and she was fighting her battle bravely. She seemed to have come to terms with herself during the two months they had spent on the coast of Australia and restocked the cargo bays and storages of Deucalion and made repairs from their previous battle against the Ravielus Fleet. Inko was still being her usual self, but something had changed in the air around her, as if she was somewhat frightened of being too close to Inaho, especially when they were alone together.

‘ _I’m sorry. You know I don’t love you like that_ ,’ he thought as their eyes met briefly before Inko turned her somewhat pained expression away. ‘ _But I’m also sorry I made you upset_.’

“ _All hands!_ ” the speakers on board the ship suddenly yelled out. The voice was somewhat distressed. “ _UN has ordered all our ships on high alert until further orders. Gather in the hangar for an emergency briefing._ ”

“What…?” Nina asked as she stared at the closest speaker mounted on the deck above them.

“High alert?” Rayet asked and stared at the speaker as well. “What does that mean?”

Inaho felt troubled.

“Something has happened in Vers that we are not aware of,” he said and removed Calm’s arm from around his neck and stood up to find Captain Magbaredge and consult with her. “They have probably remobilized their military.”

“Remobilized? They weren’t mobilized as a united force to begin with,” Inko said and stood up as well. She was curious of what was going on, just like Inaho.

“Perhaps I rephrased myself incorrectly but either way something must have changed in their military for UN to order all ships to high alert like this,” the brunet answered.

‘ _What is going on in Vers?_ ’ Inaho thought as he watched people gather in the hangar. They poured in through the doors and everyone seemed distressed about the sudden news.

Once Captain Magbaredge arrived with her executive officer in tow, she explained to the shocked crewmembers that the cursed creatures had shown suspicious activity in their harbors in the Baltic Sea, in the North and in the East. A team was setting up a projector while she spoke. As she said the word “submarine”, everyone took a deep breath from horror. The captain let them know the cursed creatures had been observed to restore several submarines and test them out in the seas inside their borders, and a convoy of eleven submarines had been seen in the Murmansk Fjord in the North of Vers, headed toward the East.

“They are already suspected to have sunk a Swedish submarine that had been guarding the Barents Sea two months ago,” Captain Magbaredge said with a troubled look on her face. “UN has sent a submarine squadron to the Chukchi Sea in the north-eastern part of Vers to intercept them. We are ordered to head to the East China Sea to prepare a joint attack against their harbors along with several other fleets that will meet us there.” She stepped aside as the projector had been prepared, and an image of a large submarine was shown on the white bulkhead behind her. “This is a Typhoon-class submarine,” she continued and a shiver ran through the crowd. “They are transporting two of these in the convoy as far as we know. It is the largest submarine class ever constructed, and carries twenty intercontinental nuclear warheads – each.”

As the crowd murmured nervously, a second image replaced the photograph of the submarine. Blond hair… Sharp eyes… A youthful face with pale skin… Inaho’s heart began beating wildly.

“According to our data, this young man is the one in command of this new kind of operation. His identity is still unknown, but the Norwegian AIP submarine that is keeping an eye on the activity in the North after the Swedish sub sank, claims he seems to be the one in charge as the soldiers answer to him.”

“Inaho…” Rayet whispered and stepped up to him. “That’s him…”

Inaho barely heard her as he felt as if his knees would buckle beneath him. He knew. He knew who it was all too well. There was no mistake.

“I know…” he whispered back and stared at the young man on the blurry picture as the camera had zoomed in on him from afar. He stood with a stern look in his eyes that had turned icy cold, and was in the middle of giving an order to someone on the weather deck of the submarine to the left on the photograph. He was dressed in a heavy fur coat and hat, but the silver hair peeked out from beneath the hat. The young man looked striking and had a powerful presence even in the picture.

‘ _Slaine!_ ’ the brunet thought horrified and felt an urgent need to find the young man. ‘ _What is going on where you are?_ ’

†††

The sound of water caressing the hull was heard along with the mechanical rhythms of machines and crew walking back and forth in the corridors on the submarine. It had been three weeks since the power of world destruction had landed in his hands, and it was his first voyage on board the biggest mechanical shark in the sea. The one-hundred-seventy-five meter long beast was – along with her sister submarines – the biggest and deadliest submersible vessel on earth, and she was under the command of Captain Ramius, who had been transferred to the great shark along with his crew.

The Akula submarine was on her way to the Pacific Fleet in the most south-eastern part of Vers along with ten other submarines in a convoy, to deliver submarines to the Pacific bases where most of the submarines needed repairs. Some had only a skeleton crew – the minimum of crewmembers needed to propel the vessels – while others had been filled with a proper crew of former submariners that wished to serve their nation from below the waves once again. Four attack submarines were guarding the convoy from enemy submarines.

It had turned out the Northern Fleet’s submarines were better off than the ones in the Pacific Fleet. They were traveling through the cold waters of the Chukchi Sea in the Arctic Ocean in the North, slowly moving toward the main base of the former Pacific Fleet in Vladivostok; the same base from where Cruhteo’s fleet had departed to escort Princess Asseylum to Japan for her goodwill visit. They would soon pass the border to the Bering Sea in the Versian Far East.

Vladivostok was under Saazbaum’s command and was located close to the northern border of the Sea of Japan, and Slaine felt it to be somewhat bittersweet to return to the place where all this insanity had started.

Saazbaum was traveling with Slaine since he was to get back out to the sea with his fleet that stood waiting in the harbor of Vladivostok, close to where Slaine’s V.E.S. Tharsis had been repaired. The mighty Tharsis now stood waiting for its commander along with the rest of Slaine’s surface fleet, anchored out in the base’s waters close to the Saazbaum Fleet. The proud cursed count had wished to accompany Slaine on the long journey to spend some time with his son and also prove to the elitists how much he trusted the young vampire. It was important to establish Slaine’s credibility as soon as possible to avoid forming enemies amongst the cursed clans of nobles.

Lemrina had already been escorted to Saazbaum’s ship along with Eddelrittuo and waited for the Saazbaum family to arrive within a couple of days, and the sleeping cursed princess was at the moment hidden in Slaine’s cabin on board the Akula submarine.

Slaine lay in a sweaty embrace in the onboard sauna. He lay slumped against his blood sacrifice in the wonderful heat and Harklight held him just like he had done ever since Slaine had begun to seek out his human heat the moment he had been reborn as a cursed creature. Harklight’s naked chest was slippery with sweat while Slaine’s body was perfectly dry; a cursed creature did not sweat at all, which made Slaine appreciate Harklight’s still human nature. It was intoxicatingly wonderful to feel the musky smell of a human like that, he thought.

The man’s sweat did not disgust him the slightest since it filled an important function of comfort for Slaine. He had lived in a cold world without warm hands touching him for many years, and now his own humanity had been taken away from him. This made the cursed vassal appreciate every little detail of a human’s presence and he wallowed in it for as long as possible if he was allowed to.

Harklight had not resisted Slaine’s requests – not even once. He gladly gave Slaine whatever the young vampire wanted and served him impeccably well in every aspect. The manservant rarely complained, not even during moments like these where they were both enjoying the sauna with nothing but a towel around their hips. The only time Harklight voiced a complaint was in the form of a request to leave the sauna when the heat became too much for him – which usually happened after about twenty to thirty minutes in the sauna.

Slaine listened to the heartbeats inside the ribcage he leaned his head against and thought of what he and Eddelrittuo had been speaking about three weeks earlier in Asseylum’s room in the royal palace. While he thought of how ugly it was of him to feed of Harklight’s gentle nature to receive as much comfort as possible, he let his fingers slowly play with the slippery skin and rubbed it with the palms of his hands at times, following the shape of Harklight’s muscles to feel the blood coursing beneath his skin. Dead skin made the sensation coarse as it was loosened by the sweat and Slaine’s rubbing hands, and the young vampire gently brushed it away and continued enjoying the slippery feeling.

Throughout the entire time, he felt his teeth tingle as if he wanted to bury them into the blood sacrifice’s neck and drink his blood simply because Slaine felt so at peace; it was a perfect moment to feed, his instincts told him.

“Harklight,” Slaine mumbled while being drunk from the wonderful heat of the sauna. “May I have a small sip?”

The manservant immediately understood what Slaine meant and answered like a true blood sacrifice would:

“Of course, my lord. I am your blood sacrifice; you should drink my blood whenever you wish.”

‘ _Don’t say something like that_ ,’ the young vampire thought as he got up from Harklight’s sweaty embrace and looked at him. ‘ _Don’t be so brainwashed to trust a cursed creature without questioning their motives_.’

“What if I drink too much?” Slaine asked as if to aggravate the young man to think for himself.

“Then that is my fate,” the manservant answered without hesitation.

Slaine could only stare at him with pity. Harklight truly was a blood sacrifice from the human colonies in Vers, where the human young man had been born and raised. He had been subjected to the dogma every blood sacrifice came in contact with the moment they came to the world of the undead, and Harklight had been schooled properly.

“Why would you die like that without fighting for your life?” Slaine wondered and straddled Harklight’s hips to get into a comfortable position to drinking his blood. “Did they indoctrinate you so thoroughly in the colony?”

“N-not really, sir,” the human answered with a slight stammer as he seemed to think of Slaine’s provocative position as uncomfortable. As Slaine was about to lower his hips and rest on Harklight’s thighs, the human young man stopped him from sitting down. “My lord…!”

Slaine watched him with surprise from the sudden refusal. Harklight stared back at him nervously, as if he was afraid of revealing something. That gave Slaine some kind of insurance that the human young man still had some sense of autonomy and integrity left in him.

“What is it?” the cursed blond asked quietly and stared at the sweaty human beneath him, waiting patiently for Harklight to explain his sudden rejection. As no words were formed by the other’s lips, Slaine put his hands on Harklight’s shoulders and let his hips slowly fall onto the warm thighs between his legs. The manservant squeezed his eyes shut from obvious shame the moment Slaine felt something push against him, and the vampire raised his eyebrows from surprise and looked at Harklight with a confident smile. “Do I excite you, Harklight?” he asked with a whisper and tilted his head slowly as he looked at the human man who refused to open his eyes. “Is that why you are willing to give me all your blood without a moment of hesitation?”

The servant lowered his hands from Slaine’s hips and let them rest on the wooden seat next to his own hips. His hands quickly formed into fists.

“Forgive me, my lord,” the human young man answered with a quivering breath. “Please, ignore me and take as much blood as you wish.”

It was not uncomfortable to feel and know that he got a man excited like that. Slaine had to be honest and admit it empowered him to ridiculous extents. Since it did not matter from whom he got comfort, it also did not matter in what form he would get it. Lemrina had yearned for him and Slaine had used that to get comfort. Now, Harklight seemed to feel some kind of attraction to Slaine as well.

‘ _Will I use you like that, too?_ ’ Slaine wondered as he cupped Harklight’s right cheek into his hand and lowered his lips onto the human young man’s salty skin on the left side of his neck. His needlelike teeth tingled violently now that the animal in him knew he would feed on a prey, and he opened his lips and let his teeth sink into Harklight’s neck.

“Agh!” the human exclaimed right into Slaine’s ear. A pleasant shiver ran down Slaine’s spine; it was exciting to hear a prey gasp from pain as he buried his teeth into the flesh and all the way to the victim’s vein. Hands were placed on his hips once again, clutching at the towel around Slaine’s waist. “Sir Troyard…! The heat…”

Perhaps it was a bad idea to feed on Harklight now that they had stayed in the sauna for a while; Harklight probably needed to get out of the sauna soon to not get a heat stroke. Slaine decided to only drink a small amount of blood before getting the bucket with water, which usually was thrown onto the hot stones on the heater to make the air feel hotter from the moisture, and poured a filled ladle of water over the slumped human to cool him down. As he did so, Slaine felt a childish impulse to pour some water over his own head to feel the precious liquid slither down his skin as well, and did so.

The heat, the human touch, the blood and water felt refreshing, and he sighed and satisfyingly licked his lips clean from the blood that still stained them.

When Harklight began to wake up from Slaine’s venom, he seemed to feel awkward about having clumsily revealed his attraction to his master in the vulnerable state he was in. Slaine decided not to say a word about it and got off from Harklight’s lap and went to take a shower. The human young man did not follow him; the blood sacrifice seemed to need a moment to calm down, and Slaine left him alone in the sauna to spare him from the humiliation. Even if the cursed blond was hungry for comfort, he still respected Harklight enough to not graze his heart with a careless talon.

After he had dried his body and put on his uniform, he left to find the cursed count who he suspected was in the officers’ mess where he had enough space to find it comfortable for work. When the cursed vassal knocked on the door and announced his presence, Saazbaum welcomed him in and Slaine stepped in through the door. The cursed count was tidying away some papers that apparently were not to be seen by Slaine’s eyes.

“I see you have fed moments earlier,” the proud cursed man said as he looked up at his son after he had hid some papers in a folder. Slaine sat down opposite of him on the leather couch that was mounted to the wall and did not bother to ask what the papers were about; he had learned a long time ago it was no use in asking since Saazbaum would not let him know anyway. “You have a healthy glow on your cheeks, Slaine.”

“I bathed in the sauna with my blood sacrifice,” the cursed blond said and brushed back a wet strand of hair that had strayed from its position. “It seemed like a peaceful place to drink blood.”

“Calm and relaxed moments usually appeal to our instincts in such ways,” his father said. “What grants me the pleasure of your company, Slaine?” he then smiled while still looking stern, as if the serious nature never disappeared from the cursed count’s expression.

“To be frank, father, I simply wish to have a presence around me,” Slaine answered honestly.

Saazbaum arched a curious eyebrow.

“There are plenty of crew on board to keep you company. Are you feeling lonely, perhaps?” his father asked him.

“Usually, back when I was a human and was out at sea, I would have taken the FRB out to pass time and pick flowers from shores close by to unwind,” Slaine said and tilted his head with a smiling frown. “Ever since I was cursed, the sea lost its beauty as I cannot ride the waves in a sunset, and a submarine is too enclosed that it would have been impossible either way, my lord.”

“In other words, you wish to take some time off from your duty but have nothing to spend that time on?” Saazbaum asked with an amused chuckle. “I must say I am glad to know you are not dwelling in your cabin, guarding at the bedside of our late princess; you did that quite often on board my ship when we were out at sea.”

Suddenly, Slaine felt unsettled and vigilant. Each time someone else other than Harklight or Eddelrittuo mentioned his sleeping beloved, he bared his fangs in secret – ready to strike down whoever that could be a threat to Asseylum’s existence.

“Perhaps that is an idea worth to consider, my lord,” Slaine said and stood up from the seat, but was quickly told to sit down again. He did not obey and simply stared at his father.

“I believe we should have a conversation about the situation we have with our late princess,” Saazbaum then said and stared sternly at Slaine, knowing the young vampire was highly sensitive to the subject. Slaine was about to arch his back slightly as he leaned over the table and stared at the cursed count before him. “Sit down, Slaine Saazbaum Troyard,” his father then ordered and, this time, Slaine knew he had no choice but to obey; his father’s tone was grave. “Vers is changing slowly,” Saazbaum continued after Slaine had slowly sat down again. “It is not the same nation our late princess grew up in and knew, and she has no place in the royal palace anymore. I have seen to that,” he said.

“What are you implying, my lord?” Slaine asked and glared at the cursed man with suspicion.

Had his heart been beating still, it would have awoken from the distress that plowed through Slaine’s emotions and divided his world into black and white poles; he suddenly had no emotions that could be considered to belong between those extreme poles.

“That perhaps you should let go of her, Slaine,” Saazbaum said softly, as if believing the tone of his voice would not aggravate Slaine further. “She might never wake up, and you should give her peace.”

“No,” Slaine said with a hiss and barely realized he was about to bark back at the man who was in control of Asseylum’s existence.

‘ _Why do all of you wish for her to die?!_ ’ the blond thought angrily. Even Eddelrittuo – Asseylum’s former and trusted handmaiden – had told him that a couple of months ago. Back then, she had begged Slaine to run away before he was cursed, and he had decided to stay anyway. ‘ _Am I the only one who wants to see her come back to life?!_ ’

He knew it was so, but it still aggravated him severely to know he alone carried on and hoped for Asseylum to recover with the little resources he had at hand.

“Think reasonably, Slaine,” Saazbaum continued. “She has lost her place in this world. She is solely still here to serve as your anchor, and even I believe it is cruel of you to treat her like that. You are not the child she took care of anymore; you should move on now.”

“And whose fault is that?!” Slaine suddenly barked with panicked anger. He knew he was barking simply because he had nothing else to fight with against the cursed count; the wolf was a weak dog in the presence of the count, and now he had to bark louder to hide all that. “You are the one restricting the blood supply to her, which keeps her from recovering!”

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he knew he was committing a serious crime. Had the pressure finally made the walls toppled over him? Had he finally lost his last piece of sanity and patience? This anger and desperation to stay alive had finally flared out with full force after it had been building up during a long time.

Saazbaum’s glare turned threatening. It darkened as quickly as a light that had been switched off. The air around him became thick with danger and black flames seemed to flicker in his eyes.

“Be careful, Sir Troyard,” Saazbaum said calmly but with a voice that dripped of bloodlust. “I was hoping to have a calm discussion, but you flaring up like this is quite disturbing. You should be aware you are in a submarine and your voice might be heard.”

Slaine gritted his teeth and knew Saazbaum was right. He had to restrict his voice.

“You are trying to take her away from me, are you not?” Slaine asked instead with a hiss and glared at his father. He was terrified and it was why he could not stop; he had to protect Asseylum even if it was through a destructive attempt like this. He had already lost control of his temper. “That was not what we agreed on.”

“You are dragging her corpse around as though she were a plaything. That is unsightly of you as my son, and disrespectful toward her,” he listened to the cursed count say. “You have climbed the ladder of success and her existence has become troublesome. If someone finds out the truth, both you and I will be dragged down into the mud by the elitists.”

“Then so be it!” Slaine growled and stood up from his seat again.

“That is not the way you should speak to me, Slaine Troyard,” Saazbaum warned him.

“You have already decided to kill her off entirely, am I correct?” Slaine asked and felt his muscles tense up as if they were preparing for a fight. His mind quickly became a blur; no reasonable thought came to him as he was erratic from fearing for Asseylum’s life. “I will not let you!”

“I cannot take the risk of letting you keep her the way you have thus far. Vers’s entire future is at stake and I have to reconsider the agreement we settled on nearly two years ago. Things have changed dramatically since then, and you know that as well as I do. I had hoped you could have been reasoned with,” Saazbaum said in an attempt to talk Slaine into a state of obedience, but the cursed blond was far more terrified of what the man was saying to let him be controlled.

“You are going to kill her?” he asked, and the dreaded answer came to him:

“Yes. She is a threat to our new Vers.”

A dark shadow swept over the cursed vassal’s mind and he stared at his father with an empty gaze as the feeling of hate infested him once again. The last time he had felt like this had been in Shinawara when Trillram had revealed the truth behind the assassination attempt on the cursed princess. Just like in that moment from two years ago, something that had been made fragile from all the stress and pressure snapped in his mind and a violent explosion of utter hatred burst out from deep inside of him. There was no reason left in his mind to hold him back; the violent emotions took control of him again; crashing through the frail wall that had been holding them at bay until now.

‘ _Your luck has run out, vampire…_ ’

With a violent kick aimed at the table between him and Saazbaum, he tore the table free from the iron bolts holding it fastened to the deck. Due to the cursed count sitting down, Saazbaum had no way to evade the table that was brutally shoved against him so suddenly. The force of it sent the papers flying and pushed him all the way back to the wall and crushed the cursed count’s torso with the edge of the steel table. A dent formed where the table pinned Saazbaum against the wall.

Blood gushed out from the cursed count’s mouth and splattered onto the surface of the table. With terrible shock, Saazbaum turned to look up at Slaine with wide eyes that had yet to morph into fury, and Slaine leaned forward against the table and held the count fast by pushing it against him until Saazbaum groaned with pain. The blood Slaine had consumed moments earlier gave him renewed strength that had made this attack possible.

“Did you honestly believe that I would let you kill her and still honor my fealty to you?” Slaine hissed and glared at the cursed man with eyes burning with icy flames. “I would have served you to the best of my abilities despite the destructiveness that followed. I would have taken it out on something else and gritted these teeth of mine and stayed true to the pact I made with the man who pulled the trigger against Princess Asseylum.”

Slaine pushed the table harder against Saazbaum until the cursed man gasped from the torment of having the edge of a table crushing him:

“Slaine…!”

“Silence!” the murderous blond interrupted him, and Saazbaum kept staring at him without knowing what to do; his spine was probably damaged and was the reason to why he did not fight back. “Did you think I would forgive you for killing her a second time?!” the cursed blond then growled. “That I would smile and accept that you wiped her away from the face of the earth for good?”

An alarm went off and a voice said something in the speaker mounted to the wall, but Slaine did not hear it. He was far too focused on the cursed count before him.

“Slaine…” Saazbaum gasped while blood trickled down his chin as if he was drooling from pain. “You have grown … far more than I thought…”

No. Slaine was simply insane and nothing more. There was no grand plan behind this murder; it simply served to save the life of the woman he adored.

A loud explosion went off somewhere and it sounded as if it came from outside the hull of the submarine. Then the entire vessel shook tremendously enough Slaine lost his balance and stumbled back against the wall behind him and crashed against it. Saazbaum was freed from the table that slid across the floor toward Slaine, who pushed it aside, and the cursed count fell face down onto the deck. Cutlery and porcelain cups were sent flying as the mighty shark tilted, and the light from the ceiling got loose. A spark snapped somewhere and Slaine could feel the scent of electricity in the air, and then smoke. As he opened his eyes, a fire had started where the lights hung from their cables, and molten plastic began to drip onto the papers that lay on the deck. As they caught fire, Slaine realized the mess would be set ablaze.

“ _We are hit and are taking in water! Damage control to the aft section of the ship on port side! Everyone else, evacuate to the starboard section until damage control has inspected the damage!_ ” he heard the familiar voice of Victor Ramius yell in the speaker.

Slaine dropped his gaze to the cursed man lying on the deck, trying to get up to flee from the danger, and Slaine – with a cold heart – stepped over to the door leading out to a busy corridor.

“I will not ask for your forgiveness,” he said as his gaze met with Saazbaum’s. “This is where our paths go separate ways,” he said and opened the door once the corridor had gone silent. “Good bye, father.”

Saazbaum gave him a last smile and silently worded a last request:

“Make me proud.”

A phantom sting was suddenly felt in his dead heart, as if his heart condition had come back to haunt him. He closed the door behind him and broke the locking mechanism before he leaned his back against the door that slowly grew hotter, and soon a horrific yell from desperation and pain was heard behind it as Saazbaum was set ablaze.

Suddenly, Slaine began to recover from what had happened and he began to walk toward the control room where Captain Ramius was commanding the crew with rapid and confident orders. The desperate cry from the burning room made panic well up from the heart which’s ghost had come back, and Slaine clutched the uniform with his hands and tried to force his steps forward. It felt as if he was wading through thick mud; it was impossible to get anywhere.

As the scream began to quiet down, Slaine turned around toward the burning room. If Saazbaum died, the entire cursed nation would fall and crumble and there would be nothing left of it if no one took over the reins. The problem was that no one knew what Saazbaum had been up to or planned; the cursed count had done that entirely in silence and away from curious eyes.

‘ _What have I done?_ ’ he thought with such shock he was about to scream from excruciating guilt and fear of what to do. ‘ _What have I done?!_ ’

“NO!” he exclaimed and hurried back to the door where smoke had begun to seep out from the cracks between the door and the doorframe. “Saazbaum! Are you still there?!”

As he heard no answer, he looked around the corridor and saw a telephone mounted on the wall that was connected to the control room. Slaine hurried up to it and with a trembling hand pushed the button that connected the line to the control room. He yelled into the microphone with desperate cries for help, and soon a team of four crewmembers came running with fire extinguishers ready.

“It’s a confined space; do not open the door! There might be a backdraft!” one of them ordered the others and then yelled into a radio: “Turn on the sprinklers in the officers’ mess!”

“ _Sprinklers are on!_ ” a voice answered.

Slaine stepped back and collapsed against the wall as he watched the crew desperately try to get the fire under control. Tears sprung to his eyes as he understood Saazbaum was probably gone at this point. He had killed the one governing over his life and safety; he had murdered his own father.

‘ _But he was to murder her!_ ’ he thought as if trying to justify his actions, but it was to no avail. He was the one guilty for an entire nation’s fall in the near future.

The time that passed felt like an eternity. The crew managed to get the fire under control by suffocating it with water fumes and carbon dioxide, and the captain came hurrying in time for when the door into the mess was opened wide. The crew had worked through a crack in the door to avoid feeding oxygen to the fire and filled the room with carbon dioxide to suffocate the flames. Ramius walked past Slaine with hurrying steps to take a look at the mess and the entire area fell silent.

As Slaine pushed his trembling body up from where he had been slumped while panicking, and walked up to the door, a heap of ash lay on the floor. The couch had been destroyed and the walls were burnt. Everything that had been flammable was gone; turned into ash – including Saazbaum.

“Father…” Slaine whispered and gritted his teeth to hold back a whimper that threatened to escape from his lips, but… “Saazbaum!” he exclaimed and was about to run into the room the moment he realized the heap of coal lying on the deck was the remains of his father, but was pulled back and pushed up against the wall opposite of the door by strong hands.

“Stay calm, my lord!” he watched the captain say sternly. “We have just been attacked by an enemy that lay in ambush, but the flooding is under control and the compartment is sealed. The enemy has been neutralized by our attackers. What is your order,” Captain Ramius continued and looked at Slaine with a heavy frown. “Admiral Saazbaum Troyard?”

Slaine’s eyes widened with shock as he stared at those eyes that had seen many unpleasant things, but now they were more serious than ever.

“W-what?” the cursed blond asked with a gasp.

“According to Vers's system,” the captain said. “Since you are the next in line as a next of kin and a military officer under Count Saazbaum’s lead, you inherit your father’s title as an admiral.”

His breath escaped him and so did his strength now that he realized he was to inherit Saazbaum’s title. Along with it, the cursed count’s fleet and territory fell under Slaine’s command.

‘ _Dear God…_ ’ he thought and stared at the captain, disbelieving of what had happened. ‘ _What have I done…?_ ’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god... *trembles* Shit hit the fan, didn't it? (O____O) I'm so sorry to kill Saazbaum off since I would have loved to have him and Slaine to spend some more time together, but there's no room for that and the count is supposed to be killed anyway (as in the anime). R.I.P. Saazbaum... (T____T)
> 
> Also a fun spoiler: Isenseaviolentsmutscenebetweenourboysapproaching...


	29. Soldiers' Pay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another long chapter ahead!

“ _Three days ago, I lost my second father. He was a great man who devoted his life to the prosperity of the Vers Empire and sought to give us a new hope after the tragic loss of our honorable Royal Vers Family_ ,” the silky smooth voice said in the speakers. “ _My dear father worked harder than anyone of us in order to give us a new hope and keep our nation strong in a time of uncertainty_.”

The voice was heavy with candid grief and exhaustion, but it somehow rung powerfully still. The sound of it made more and more unidentifiable emotions swirl in his heart for each moment that passed. They were impossible to contain as they stacked up into a mighty tower that threatened to topple; some emotions had a nervous character to them, while others were of pure frustration and hopelessness. To vent them out, Inaho punched the punching bag hard with even rhythms while Rayet stood behind it and held it in place.

They were in the gym on the Deucalion that was sailing toward China, listening to the broadcasted speech of Slaine Saazbaum Troyard while the brunet was desperately trying to stay calm. The speech meant bad news. He was sure of it. He had never imagined Slaine to sound the way he did now; like a young leader. The passionate and kindhearted boy Seylum had spoken about – the young man Inaho had fallen for – was nowhere to be heard in that cursed speech.

‘ _He’s not gone…_ ’ Inaho told himself. ‘ _The warm personality of Slaine is still there. He has to be_.’

“ _I hereby announce my resolve to carry on both my fathers’ legacy and fight for the even greater prosperity of the Vers Empire. The work of my father – the late and honorable Count Saazbaum – will not go to waste. His efforts will not be for naught! Hear me, lords of the mighty Versian fleets and the people of our motherland! This is no time to be confused and worried. As honorable and capable citizens of the noble Vers Empire, we should work shoulder to shoulder in order to eradicate the humans’ resistance forces and claim our rightful place on this earth once and for all!_ ”

The brunet was greatly confused of what was going on in Vers and what had happened to Slaine. His voice sounded strange as the blond spoke with sincerity and power. It was as if he had been schooled into a role Inaho had not seen him perform before. Slaine had always been hidden from the world; no one had known who he was moments earlier before he had announced his presence to the world through the broadcast; telling the world he was the adopted son to one of the cursed counts who had died in a submarine attack three days ago; the son to a frighteningly capable leader.

The frustration of not being able to see him began biting chunks away from his reason; Inaho could not contain the violent emotions that began to grow for each word he heard from the blond young man’s lips – lips he remembered had been soft and warm.

He punched the bag harder as he pondered on what to do. How would he find Slaine? They were moving closer to the area where the silver-crowned young man probably was; in Vladivostok. He had to get off the ship and search for Slaine.

‘ _I have to find him before he’s killed!_ ’ he thought and made a quick twirl while raising his knee, and then stretched his leg out to kick the punching bag hard enough Rayet nearly lost her balance and grip of the bag.

“ _In the name of the Royal Family of Vers and our new princess: Her Royal Highness Princess Lemrina Vers Envers! Let us find mutual ground and raise our motherland’s banners to march beneath them in unison and with pride!_ ” Slaine’s voice continued while momentary static warped his voice.

‘ _Stop it_ ,’ the brunet thought as Slaine’s words sounded dangerous.

“ _Let us find unity and comradery as we sing our forgotten anthem together that has not been sung for many years! With it we shall fill our darkened streets with song that inspires awe in our undead hearts and awakes fear in our enemies’!_ ”

‘ _Don’t continue!_ ’

Inaho kicked the bag again and the chain it hung in stretched out violently enough it sent a horrible snapping sound through the room, making it sound like an iron whip.

“ _We have lost enough to the vile humans! We shall punish those who dare defy the Vers Empire! Her Highness and our dearest princess is biding her time at our Pacific base, grieving for our nation’s great loss and hopes that we all shall come together and become the earth’s mightiest nation where every cursed creature is given the chance to live without prosecution by the humans! I have raised my banner – in honor of our Royal Family and those who have fallen! My banner stands tall – in honor of our motherland and her people! Every soul of Vers: Unite with-!_ ”

‘ _Enough!_ ’

A violent kick tore the punching bag from the chains holding it in place and sent it flying. Rayet barely managed to dodge it before it crashed against the speaker mounted on the bulkhead and was torn open from the force of the impact, making the stuffing rain all around it while the speaker crashed against the deck.

“Hey,” Rayet said and looked at the brunet with shock. Inaho gasped for breath while sweat pearled down his skin. “What’s up?”

Inaho hurried to get the oxygen tube to take a breath from it as he felt he had exerted his muscles a little too much. As he took a breath, he felt dizzy and leaned forward to continue gasping for breath while supporting himself with hands against his knees.

Slaine’s speech had been too powerful. It had frightened him. The blond young man was making attempts to become untouchable, and Inaho felt an urgent need to find him before Slaine would disappear completely beyond the border of nobility and power. With the speech the blond had held, he had claimed the late count’s territory and military power, making Slaine into an admiral.

‘ _Slaine… Don’t do this!_ ’ Inaho prayed and stood up again to wipe away the sweat from his face with the soft wristband. His mind was spinning out of control with thoughts of worry, fear and longing. He wanted to be close to Slaine and take him with him. He wanted to save Asseylum so that the silver-crowned prince would finally be free. He wanted to hold him. Care for him. Protect him… He wanted to do all that, hidden from the world and prying eyes. ‘ _You’re making enemies; you’re making yourself into a big target._ ’

“What happened?” Rayet asked and looked at Inaho with concern. “You have never acted out like that before.”

“Rayet,” Inaho said with a breath that had recovered somewhat. “You remember when he saved you, right? Slaine Troyard, the blood sacrifice, I mean.”

Rayet frowned and blinked.

“Yes, why?”

Inaho took a deep breath and stood up from his leaning position, and asked:

“Will you help me save him?”

“What?” the red-haired girl asked and shook her head from disbelief. “You heard him; he has become our enemy. Why would I want to save him?”

Inaho kept staring at her.

“He’s not the one he claims to be and you know it. You owe him that. He risked his life for you,” he said, and Rayet stared back at him in disbelief for a while.

Inaho knew he probably asked a little too much from her. She was unlikely as passionate as him about Slaine; she could certainly not care less about him now that he had announced his dangerous vow to the world.

The cursed girl sighed heavily and pulled her fingers through her hair, and then nodded.

“All right. You seem to be determined on saving him; that he doesn’t deserve to die, so I guess I’ll trust you. Who do we have to save him from?” she asked, and Inaho answered as bluntly as he could:

“The entire world.”

†††

The ship was nearly silent as he stepped into the hangar bay through the opening. The area was devoid of movement but it was far from empty. Cursed soldiers stood at attention – all dressed in their spotless uniforms. They stood in formation, silent and unmoving with heads lowered in grief. Silently, he walked down the hangar bay of V.E.S. Dioscuria with only his steps’ echoes merging with the barely audible hum of the ship’s active systems. Slaine said no word to the soldiers that had lost their leader three days ago; he had nothing to say to them now that they were in grief after Saazbaum’s funeral.

He had held his speech moments earlier. He had made it clear he would be the owner of this ship and the fleet that belonged to her. Slaine would command the Saazbaum fleet along with his own fleet once the ceremonial period of mourning had ended the next day. The cursed crew did not belong to him yet; Saazbaum’s ownership of the fleet was still valid for as long as the mourning period was ongoing as a last form of respect now that he had died his last death.

As his heavy steps guided him deeper into the ship – headed toward the officers’ berthing – someone stepped out of formation behind him. Slaine stopped as he heard the step against the steel deck and waited for a moment to calm down; the sound had made him expect the worst; someone who would deny him the right to the ship. Then he looked over his shoulder and met the eyes of the captain of the ship. The cursed man – whom Slaine recognized all too well – was dressed in his ceremonial uniform, weighed down by the gold decorating his shoulders and chest in honor of the late Saazbaum. They stared at each other during a silence so tense Slaine felt his skin prickle. Then the cursed captain slowly raised his hand to salute to the cursed blond; acknowledging him as his lord despite the ceremonial mourning was still ongoing.

Slaine turned around and faced him properly, and without a word he raised his hand to acknowledge the salute and studied the cursed captain for a moment. There was no ill intent in the man’s eyes. He did not seem to have ulterior motives. Instead, the cursed man took a breath, put his right hand over the left side of his chest, and then struck a determined note:

“With the undying power of comradery and labor, our motherland will forever stand strong. The mighty cursed nation will live through the ages, in Vers Empire we shall always belong.”

The national anthem that had not been heard for many years was sung by the captain. Since the cursed nobles had been interested solely in their own growth as military men for a long time, the song, which stood for unison and nationalism, had disappeared somewhere along the way. The cursed captain – a former USSR soldier – had heard what Slaine had said in his speech, and taken it to heart.

The executive officer behind the captain raised his hand to his chest as well and joined in with song, and soon the entire hangar resounded with the powerful anthem that lit up the eyes of the men singing it, making their spirits strong and their resolve absolute and firm.

A chill made the cursed blond shiver as the scene unfolded before him of proud soldiers pledging their loyalty to the son of their late leader. They made him into their new hope by demonstrating their faith for him through the song that united them into a single force made of thousands of cursed souls – a single force for Slaine to use in order to build a better future for their nation.

“My lord,” a voice said close by. It was the voice of Harklight. Slaine turned his eyes to the human young man who had followed him up the gangway and entered the ship. In his hands, a burgundy coat lay neatly folded. He held it out to him. “I know you must be exhausted, but your duty has not ended yet for today.”

Slaine stared at the coat of a count while the hangar bay thundered with song. He had avoided the coat earlier when he has seen Harklight carry it for him. The coat was charged with heavy duties and responsibilities, but he knew he had no choice but to pick it up and drape if over his shoulders now that the cursed crew had accepted him as their leader earlier than expected.

‘ _If I want to save Vers – my precious Asseylum’s home – I have to accept everything the coat brings with it_ ,’ he thought with a wavering resolve.

With a weakly determined mind, he reached out and grabbed the fine fabric, lifted it up from his manservant’s hands and watched it fall open before him. With a deep breath, he draped it over his uniformed grey shoulders of a vassal and held it from falling down with a clutching hand. Fear struck him as he could sense the responsibilities weigh on his shoulders, but he hid it well from the cursed soldiers singing in his and Saazbaum’s honor. There was no going back; he had to turn into a devil. With cowardly desperation, he hoped that if he took things far enough, his future evil would become good.

He took one last look of the cursed soldiers in the hangar bay before he left for the officers’ berthing area along with Harklight. The blood sacrifice followed him silently and at a slight distance of two meters – as he had always done – and when they had rounded a couple of corners, climbed one set of ladders and walked down the corridor on the Level 2 deck, Slaine finally spoke:

“Harklight… In what colony were you born?”

The blood sacrifice did not answer immediately and seemed to hesitate, and Slaine did not push him to answer. He kept walking and waiting patiently until Harklight said:

“The Novgorod Colony, my lord.”

“Were your kind treated well by the masters of the colony? Be honest with me no matter how uncomfortable the truth may be,” the cursed young man ordered.

Harklight took a deep breath before he spoke.

“The Novgorod Colony is – materially wise – a prosperous colony. However, the masters are known for their brutality and violence, rape and murder. Nothing is sacred for them,” the servant answered silently. It was obvious Slaine’s question had brought up unpleasant memories. “My family worked hard to be able to send me away and become a blood sacrifice for a noble to spare me the terror of living in such a place. They were left behind and I cannot be sure if they are still alive.”

Harklight came from a chaotic environment. He had probably been living under similar conditions in the colony as Slaine when he had been a blood sacrifice on Cruhteo’s ship. All those times filled with horror were still fresh in his memory. Slaine could remember the earth-shattering terror of being found by a predator after he had sought shelter in a hiding place. He could still remember how he had ran down the corridors of the ship, screaming and crying for his life as a hunter had chased and played with him. The forceful hands and sharp teeth claiming him after a horrible chase still lingered on his skin and body.

‘ _Harklight knows these harrowing situations as well_ ,’ he thought and heard the blood sacrifice continue speaking:

“It is because of such history that I have the utmost respect for you, my lord, who have lived through similar terror as I; you have, despite being a former blood sacrifice, attained the title of a count,” the manservant said with a bowed down head.

Slaine stopped, and so did Harklight. The cursed blond turned around and looked at the blood sacrifice before him. He studied Harklight’s honest expression of awe for a short moment – realizing Harklight was probably the only one he could trust – before he stepped up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

“The cursed creatures think little about the reasons they go to war; they only care about hunting and killing rather than politics and moral. They want someone else to do that kind of thinking for them; a lord they can trust who will bend and break the rules in order to grant them their right to commit brutality and evil,” Slaine said quietly and met Harklight’s gaze as the young man looked up at him. “To exterminate the devils plaguing this world, I will have to become a greater demon. Will you blame me if I use whatever means possible in order to achieve that?”

‘ _I will eradicate those who don’t wish for the same peace and harmony as Asseylum, but I have to befriend them first_ ,’ he thought as he waited for Harklight’s answer.

“No, my lord. I would never blame you since I truly believe the crimes you will be forced to commit will be for the greater good. I understand there is no other way,” the blood sacrifice said and bowed respectfully for his master. “You are a brilliant man, my lord.”

Slaine took a step back and turned around to continue walking while the song of Vers still resounded through the ship. Harklight hurried after him.

“A brilliant man would find another solution than war,” Slaine answered with a saddened smile before he gathered his resolve and determination: “This new era will be for people like us. Tomorrow, we will begin, Harklight. You will tell me everything you know about Saazbaum’s plan; I know you served him before he gave you to me.”

“Yes, Count Troyard,” the young man answered with a tone to his voice that sounded as if he smiled.

As Slaine stopped in front of the door he had been searching for, he heard someone crying on the other side. Three days of grief had gone by and, yet, most were not ready to stop. The funeral had taken a toll on everyone – probably the entire nation – since Saazbaum had been a great leader who had independently seen to the nation’s wellbeing.

With a heavy heart, the young vampire raised his hand and knocked on the door.

“Your Highness,” he said and heard the crying quiet down. “May I come in?”

‘ _How shall I face you? How shall I break the truth to you?_ ’ he thought and heard light steps from the room. He felt nervous since he needed to tell Lemrina the truth about Saazbaum’s death. He had to be honest with her, he thought, since she had the right to know what a monster he had been. A need to be mercilessly judged was occupying his thoughts, as if he wanted to be punished for his crimes. ‘ _Am I becoming self-destructive?_ ’ he wondered with worry.

As the door opened, he met the tearstained cheeks that belonged to Eddelrittuo. She had been crying moments earlier. Behind her, on the large bed where Slaine and the cursed princess had slept together a couple of months ago, Lemrina lay with her face buried against the pillow. She was crying as well.

“Sir-“ Eddelrittuo began but stopped instantly as she saw the burgundy coat draped over Slaine’s shoulders. She stared at him for a short moment of hesitation born from uneasiness, before she rephrased herself: “C-count … Troyard…” she said with a breathless voice.

“Excuse us, Eddelrittuo,” Slaine ordered, and the petite handmaiden bowed and hurried out of the room without saying a word to the newly appointed count. Slaine stepped inside the room and closed the door behind him, took a deep breath and then walked up to Lemrina. He sat down on the edge of the bed and listened to her sobs for a while, before he said quietly: “Forgive me…”

He foresaw Lemrina’s movement before she had made it, but he did not resist; he let her throw her arms around his neck and cry against his shoulder.

“Oh, Slaine!” she exclaimed between her violent sobs. “They took him! They took him away from us!” she continued crying.

‘ _What are you…?_ ’ the young vampire thought confused. Had Lemrina believed his lie about who killed Saazbaum as well? Of course, she had no other information than the lies he had told the nation since this was the first time Slaine spoke to her after Saazbaum’s death, but he had expected her to be more attentive than this. ‘ _Why won’t you suspect me? I was there when he died._ ’

“Lemrina,” he began in order to explain what had happened, but the cursed princess interrupted him:

“Our father has been taken away from us!” she wailed with tremendous grief. Her voice was thick with sorrow and her sobs were hysterical. “Our father…! Our dad is gone! What will become of us, Slaine? What should we do?! Those damned humans!”

That was when Slaine realized Saazbaum had meant a great deal to Lemrina. She had seen him as a father and a guardian, a protector and a role-model. He had taken all that away from her; Slaine had killed the man Lemrina genuinely thought was her father, unlike Slaine. It was news he had not expected since he had always thought she had a similar relationship to Saazbaum as him; there had been no signs of her thinking otherwise. Now, it turned out she had loved him as a daughter would love her father, and Slaine had been the monster to tear them apart.

‘ _She’s reacting too violently…_ ’

This unexpected realization hit him hard. He felt as though a hole had been blown through his dead heart as he understood he could not be honest with her. If he told her he had killed her father with his own bare hands, there was no way of knowing what she would do to revenge her father. Lemrina was that kind of a woman; she would punish him in whatever way she could if she learned the truth. Her strong will and resolve, and snakelike personality, were weapons against him. Even though he felt the need to be punished, he could not trust Lemrina with that kind of permission now that she was this affected. There was no way of knowing what she would do to claim revenge. She was a risk; someone who possibly would let the entire nation fall along with Slaine in her hunger for retaliation. She had that kind of power. Just saying a single word about Asseylum’s grave being empty to the wrong ears and Slaine would face retaliation, and Lemrina knew whose ears were the dangerous pair.

‘ _I’m so sorry_ ,’ he thought and put his arms around her slender frame to hug her close. The toxic ambience that had haunted them for weeks was completely wiped away and he had to let things remain that way and make their relationship somewhat stable. ‘ _I will have to deceive you… I’m really sorry. I will try to do it gently._ ’

“Slaine…!” she gasped and pulled at the burgundy coat, clutching it desperately. “I am so terrified now that he is gone. We are on our own. Why did he have to die this soon? He cared about us like a father would; I feel so lost!”

“Worry not,” Slaine whispered to comfort her. “I will take his place, and we shall continue his legacy together.”

Lemrina’s hands squeezed tighter around the fabric of the coat, and her sobs began to quiet down. She was silently reasoning with herself and her grief. Slaine waited patiently and let her find the ground where she would stand strong and held her tightly and preciously.

After a while, the cursed princess took a deep breath and pushed away from him slightly to look at him. As their eyes met, they stared at each other while tears dripped from the cursed girl’s chin. Slaine frowned from pity as he watched her pathetic form and raised a hand to gently dry the tears from her cheeks. Lemrina closed her eyes and let him do so and, once he was done and pulled his fingers through her hair, she looked at him up and down and registered the burgundy color. She sniffled and took a deep breath before she carefully corrected the collar of the young count’s coat.

“You look stunning,” she whispered and rested her hand on Slaine’s chest once the collar looked neater. “The color suits you.”

Worry still lingered on her expression. She was frightened but tried to bravely battle against her fear – just like Slaine did.

“We will make it,” Slaine assured her and looked her in the eyes. He caressed her cheek. “We will pull through this.”

Lemrina’s breath quivered as she took a deep breath, and then said:

“My mother was liberal Lutheran and she always told me that during times when I am in great need of guidance, I should pray so that I don’t feel alone.” Slaine stared at her in surprise and felt her take his hands into hers and held them preciously. “I have not done so for many years and I doubt God will hear us since we are what we are, but I am also sure we are not forbidden from trying if we have no one else to turn to. It might serve as comfort even though we shall not be heard.”

New tears began streaming down Lemrina’s cheeks as she wanted to listen to her own advice. Her own words seemed to have made her bravery crumble, and perhaps it was for the better. She was frightened just as Slaine was frightened. Both of them were terrified of the future and knew they had to be brave. However, before they could be brave, they had to be weak.

They were on their own now – facing a world that would celebrate them, oppose them, love them and hate them – without anyone to turn to for support.

‘ _I’m sorry_ ,’ Slaine thought again and tried to convey that to her through their exchanged gaze. ‘ _I took our only security away from us, and now I have to patch it all up by myself. I don’t think a prayer will be enough for me._ ’

“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,” Lemrina whispered and gripped his hands tightly.

Slaine gave her a saddened smile and leaned closer to her lips as he decided to seek the kind of comfort only her body could give him, and brushed the velvet lips with his as he whispered back:

“Thy kingdom come…” The exciting smile flickered into his mind and his body responded immediately. Lemrina noticed the change in the air and looked up at him, slowly growing excited as well. “Thy will be done…” He licked her upper lip gently to ask for permission, and she answered by kissing his lips with a gentle peck. He leaned forward toward her until she fell on her back onto the bed, and he lay down on top of her to whisper before a kiss: “On earth as it is in heaven…”

†††

“ _Get ready, you two!_ ” the pilot exclaimed while the helicopter was quickly closing in on the burning enemy aircraft carrier named V.E.S. Sirenum.

The UN ship U.N.S. Freedom was limping away from the war scene and was about one nautical mile away from the enemy fleet; the Fleet Mazuurek. The amphibious assault ship had been intercepted on its way to the rendezvous point at East China Sea by the enemy fleet to stop it from getting closer to the pacific coast of Vers, carrying something of great value to the brown-haired boy on board the rotorcraft; Yuki Kaizuka.

This particular amphibious assault ship had – after its departing from the warzone in Africa – been greatly unlucky; its hydraulic rudder system was out of order, which meant the engine crew was steering the ship manually by the rudder carrier in the wheelhouse, taking orders from the captain on the bridge and turning the rudder according to their ordered course. Its deck was damaged and the last news Inaho had heard had been about the bloody death of twenty-eight soldiers.

The cursed count commanding the fleet seemed to be an inexperienced one; his tactic had been confident but strict; he had not enough capability to be able to face the demanding chaos of a battlefield and had done devastating miscalculations and decisions that had made the small fleet vulnerable to the UN’s attacks. The same tactic as the one Count Ravielus had encountered – with submarines in ambush ready to fire missiles and torpedoes – had worked this time as well, and the V.E.S. Sirenum was now floating with a heavy list to its port side.

“ _This is our second chance_ ,” said Rayet’s voice in the headset right after the pilot, and Inaho looked up at her with a nod.

“Let’s capture the count this time,” he answered and released himself from the belts holding him to the seat.

Without hesitation, Inaho opened the door on the helicopter’s right side and a gush of polluted air collided with his cheeks and stung his nose. He narrowed his eyes to guard them from the wind and made himself ready to jump onto the enemy deck.

“ _I will give you air support before I return to the U.N.S. Freedom and wait for you to contact me_ ,” the pilot said, and Inaho nodded to the pilot and then leaped out of the helicopter.

It was the same as last time: Cursed soldiers were panicking and running out of the superstructure onto the deck, screaming and crying from fear before being set on fire by the daylight. Others – dressed in UV-protecting gear – were brutally trying to save themselves; throwing their frightened comrades out of their way to pave way for themselves. Some of the cursed soldiers were desperately lowering the lifeboats and rescue boats in an attempt to flee from the dark death that would otherwise await them below the surface, and-

Inaho stopped running and Rayet nearly bumped into him as he stopped so suddenly. The brunet began taking some steps back to increase the distance between him and a crowd of armed vampires that prepared their weapons to shoot at the helicopter. They had not noticed Inaho and Rayet yet, and the half-human wished to keep it like that.

The brunet raised his hand to the microphone on his throat, saying:

“Falcon three. We need assistance immediately. There’s an enemy squad on deck, preparing to aim at you.”

The beating sound of the propeller of a helicopter came closer and soon the deck tapped and cried from being hit by the bullets from a machinegun, and sparks flew from wherever the bullets hit. The pilot aimed at the armed crowd, shooting the vampires who shot back at the rotorcraft with guns and pistols. Several of them were hit and ugly wounds were torn open on their bodies as a result while the helicopter barely had scratch from the brief attack.

The panic on deck grew now that an enemy was shooting at the desperate cursed soldiers who simply wished to live another day. The chaos increased along with the panic and the two UN soldiers were nearly forced down onto the ground by the wall of horrified beings trying to flee, who pushed and forced their way through whatever came in their way.

“We need to hurry while they’re occupied from fear,” Inaho said to Rayet through the microphone and began running to his right, circling around the worst flow of the crowd. “Toward the bridge. Quickly.”

They continued running, pushing through the panicking and burning corpses, fighting down the enemies that got in their way to stop their advances and got inside the superstructure. The staircase was a horrible mess of cursed soldiers that lay wounded on the deck and screamed and cried for help. Some had their heads crushed from the stampede of frightened comrades, while others were heavily wounded and tried to crawl their way to safety. It was as if they had been thrown over the railing in the staircases or been trampled after accidentally falling down in the current of panicking creatures.

A cursed soldier, who groveled on the deck, grabbed Inaho’s ankle and tried to pull him down as she noticed he was human. She was desperate for blood but the brunet was quick to stomp on her head to crush it and then continue running. Inaho had no time to deal with pity toward enemies; he had to be cold and strictly keep his focus on his mission of capturing the cursed count. There was no room for anything else but the mission, he had told himself; if an enemy became a hindrance, he had to get rid of them as quickly as possible – most preferably kill them. If he put time and effort on anything else, their mission would surely fail and plenty of humans would pay the price with their lives.

Rayet was assisting him with perfection as usual. They had become a team of two where both of them trusted the other to such lengths that neither of them worried for their lives despite they knew they were on enemy ground. They knew the other was aware of their actions and could perform flawlessly, and they moved in unison as if they were communicating without words. It was powerful and empowering as a bond.

“HOLD IT!” an authoritative voice rung at the top of the staircase and the UN soldiers stopped immediately. They had been about to reach the deck below the bridge when they were startled by the youthful voice. As Inaho and Rayet looked up toward the bridge door, the tails of a burgundy coat was the first thing they saw. Then, as they looked higher up on this intercepting presence, they saw a heavy frown on the cursed count’s youthful face and wavy blond hair. The green eyes staring at them reflected fear in the illuminating light above him. “I know why you are here, humans,” the young cursed man continued, desperately trying to make his voice sound strong and powerful while it quivered with distress. “There is no reason to fight.”

“Don’t mess with us, Count Mazuurek!” Rayet growled and was about to dash up the stairs to attack him, but Inaho held her back with an arm blocking her path.

Something in the cursed count’s eyes told him the vampire was serious; Count Mazuurek did not have the same sharpness in his glare as other cursed creature had. It was as if he had been newly cursed, which threw Inaho’s thoughts somewhat off balance since a cursed count was supposed to be someone with great leadership qualities. Count Mazuurek’s eyes were still very human. A strange softness and wavering resolve gleamed in them.

“Wait,” the brunet whispered to his colleague and stared at the cursed count without blinking – just in case the cursed creature was fooling him with that softness that had caught Inaho’s interest. “Why are you saying that?” he asked the vampire, who lowered his eyes for a moment before looking up at the UN soldiers with a determined look in his nervous eyes.

“If you spare the life of my crew by letting them try to save themselves, then I will surrender and come with you. I wish not the sight of my crew being brutally murdered to be etched into my memory; I am aware of what happened with Count Ravielus’ crew,” Count Mazuurek said with the voice of an admiral who was too young for his role.

He was referring to the flamethrowers and machineguns the UN had used to eradicate the cursed soldiers that had been floating in life rafts and boats. Not a single cursed creature had been spared under UN’s newly found brutality.

“They will kill more humans if we let them run!” Rayet yelled angrily.

Her hatred for the cursed creatures was blooming again and reminded Inaho about why she was fighting on the humans’ side of the war; to revenge her father.

“Most of them will die anyway,” the cursed count argued with his calm but distressed voice. “The ship will take most of them down with it, and the rest will either sink from exhaustion or burn in the sun. Give them a chance to save themselves; that is all I ask.”

The young count was naïve and emotional – a quality he perhaps would be better without as a commander of a military fleet. Then again, Inaho should not complain about this sudden turn of events. If Count Mazuurek would come with him and Rayet without a fight, there was no reason to deny him his request since the ship was indeed sinking with most of her crew trapped inside her. Perhaps it would be outrageous to spare the lives of the undead, but a cursed count was a source of great information.

‘ _It should be worth it_ ,’ the brunet concluded.

“All right,” Inaho said and took a step forward. “First,” he continued and raised a choker and a pair of handcuffs from a pocket on his utility belt. He activated a light on the choker with a button. It shone solidly. “Strap this around your throat,” the brunet ordered and tossed the black choker to the count, who caught it and stared at it.

“What is it?” Mazuurek wondered with hesitation and looked up at the brunet.

“A small bomb. It has a small charge in it, so it won’t blow your head off, but it will damage your spinal cord,” Inaho said curtly and waited. As Mazuurek continued hesitating, the brown-haired boy continued: “I understood you want to give your crew a chance to save themselves. I saw plenty of them lower the lifeboats on deck and many were dressed in UV-protective gear; they might have a chance. If you want to give them that, then strap that choker around your throat.”

The cursed count gritted his teeth and held his breath as he raised the choker to his neck and locked it in place. As the cursed creature was done, Inaho raised the cuffs and pushed a button on them. A red light began blinking on them, and the red light on the choker answered it by blinking as well as the two found a wireless connection. Before he threw them to the count, he warned him:

“Don’t drop these. They are now connected to the choker on your neck. Put them around your wrists.”

The cursed count did as he was told in a noble attempt to save as many of his crew as possible, and strapped the electronic handcuffs around his wrists.

“If you want to stay intact, then do as we say and don’t break the cuffs; I know you are able to rip them apart. If you break them, the charge in the choker will go off. If you resist us, I have a trigger right here,” Inaho explained and raised a small device that had a red light blinking in the same pattern as the ones on the handcuffs and choker, holding it up to show the cursed count how serious he was. “I know you are aware of how vulnerable a vampire becomes when their spine is damaged, so come with us peacefully. If not, we will do whatever we have to in order to fulfill our mission.”

Count Mazuurek glared at the brunet for a while before he took a deep breath and walked down the stairs. He stopped before Inaho and Rayet with a proud posture and said:

“I need my helmet; I cannot exit the ship without it.”

Inaho nodded to Rayet, who quickly hurried past the cursed creature to the bridge to find a UV-protective helmet, and – once the cursed count was secured – Inaho contacted the helicopter:

“Falcon three. The target has been captured. I have a message to Deucalion; relay it for me: No cursed creatures are to be killed.”

†††

“What are the other nobles’ reactions so far?” the husky voice of a woman asked in the darkened operations and planning room on board V.E.S. Tharsis. “Your speech was powerful. I doubt they are proud of you becoming one of them like this.”

The young vampire closed his eyes to sigh and then looked at the map that lay spread out on the table in front of him. He had been quick to act after Saazbaum’s death; he had been planning where to station the submarines that were now in use and under his command.

“I am told that none of them are openly expressing opposition,” Slaine answered and looked up at his blood sacrifice as the image of the young man lingered in the corner of his eye. “That is Harklight’s opinion.”

Lemrina looked to Harklight and then back at Slaine. She had a nervous glint in her eyes, but her resolve and strength that resembled that of a soon-to-be leader was also clearly shown on her face. She was readying herself to fight for her right to the throne.

“Do you also believe that?” asked the cursed princess, and Slaine shook his head and stood up with his back straight and looked at the clock hanging on the wall above the door.

The cursed count focused on the hands of time as they ticked away leisurely. Time certainly felt slower and somewhat meaningless like this. Being a cursed creature was peculiar in that sense. Ever since Slaine had been cursed, time had lost its meaning entirely.

“No,” he said while pondering on what his next move had to be. “They are only holding their tongues for the time being, thinking it distasteful to raise objection this early.”

Lemrina sighed with a heavy breath and slumped against her arm supported on the armrest of her wheelchair. She looked horribly exhausted. Even if Saazbaum had been gone for nearly a week now, she was still grieving deeply. She was a woman who had lost her father and Slaine could not deny how important the late cursed count had been for her. It had allowed guilt to sink its teeth in him to begin the tormenting process of it slowly eating away at him.

“It is an undeniable fact that Count Saazbaum’s death is a great loss to Vers. He was a good father who always worried about us and tried to look after us in his own little way,” she said tiredly. “Although, I never knew what he was thinking deep down and neither did you. Like it or not, you will have to bear the brunt of the other counts’ jealousy and envy, Slaine. You have inherited all of Count Saazbaum’s privileges as well as his status as my guardian, and – on top of that – you have inherited his position as a great leader.”

Slaine lowered his eyes from the clock and let it rest on her. Their gazes met for a brief moment before Lemrina leaned her head back against the backrest and looked up at the ceiling. She was overwhelmed of what had happened.

“I am prepared,” Slaine assured her. “It is a grave responsibility that deserves to be envied as well as cursed.”

“We have to find a way to continue Saazbaum’s legacy. We owe him that, and I believe you will earn the people’s favor if you resemble him in your way of speaking and acting; he was someone our citizens looked up to. You have to become like him,” the cursed princess warned him.

“I am aware of that,” the cursed blond said quietly and looked at the map where circles marked where he was planning to place his submarines. “I need an opportunity to prove myself as soon as possible to secure the people’s trust; to show them they should trust me.”

Lemrina looked at him. She was nervous about her future now that Count Saazbaum was not there to protect her. Her behavior had changed around Slaine; she was far more obedient and less demanding now – as though she was aware of her vulnerability now that Slaine had taken Saazbaum’s place of protecting her. It was natural, Slaine thought, for her to be so nervous around him. She had been cruel toward him by treating him like some kind of commodity, always telling him she owned him. Now, the tables had turned and she was very much aware of it.

‘ _Frightened even_ ,’ the cursed count thought as he met her gaze and heard her words:

“Whatever you do, do not forget: The princess you must protect is right before you.”

She was dangerous still. No matter how powerful Slaine was, she was still a thorn in his side since she knew the truth of everything else but Saazbaum’s death and could leak this dangerous information to those who would not hesitate to crush Slaine beneath their feet. However, he did not dislike her for it. Not this time. Even though he was wary of her, he still enjoyed her company – especially now that she had begun to treat him as an equal.

Behind all that desperation for love, Lemrina was a warm and pleasant person. She could be kind and compassionate, and she had a good amount of humor when she was in a good mood. Had Slaine not been so devoted to Asseylum, he could have fallen in love with her without a doubt. Although – due to their similarities – their relationship would have been a brief one before they had gotten on each other’s nerves.

‘ _We’re too much alike to be able to be happy together_ ,’ Slaine thought and sighed:

“I am keenly aware of that, Your Highness. Worry not,” he said and smiled. “I will keep you safe.”

They exchanged a smile for a short moment and looked at each other to show their sincerity to the other. Slaine silently promised her to protect her, and she silently thanked him for his future efforts.

Their silent exchange was suddenly interrupted as hurrying steps were heard outside the door. Slaine – because of his heightened hearing – looked up at the door before the others had heard the sounds; he had heard the steps even before Lemrina and Eddelrittuo. It was the sound of a woman hurrying down the passageway outside.

“ _Count Troyard_ ,” a female voice said. It was the voice of one of the officers on board. The door opened and she stepped inside with a distressed expression and handed Slaine a paper with a written message. It had wrinkles all over it, as if it had fluttered violently in her hand as she had hurried down the corridor. “Forgive me for interrupting you, my lord, but this is of high priority.”

As Slaine lowered his eyes from her to the paper in his hands, he read the message that gave him a small smile on his lips. The officer made a slight cowering movement at that; his eyes must have become cold again.

“Very well,” Slaine said and looked up at her with a satisfied smile. “Send out a reconnaissance aircraft to find the enemy before they have gotten too close to our borders. The Blackbird should be fine.”

“Yes, Count Troyard,” the officer exclaimed and saluted him before disappearing out through the door and hurried to fulfill Slaine’s order.

“My lord?” Eddelrittuo asked nervously, and Slaine looked up at her.

The handmaiden and the cursed princess both looked at him with wariness. Slaine’s wolf-like gaze was definitely haunting his eyes again.

“Yesterday, Count Mazuurek was captured by the humans and his fleet has been taken down. According to this message, he intercepted an enemy amphibious assault ship on its way to East China Sea, where a UN fleet is being assembled, before the inexperienced fool was attacked,” Slaine said with his smile widening. The other cursed creatures became worried as they looked at him, and even Harklight seemed to have noticed something was off with the cursed count. “This is a perfect chance,” the young vampire said quietly and lowered his eyes to the map. “The enemy is undeniably planning an attack on our pacific coast. This is the moment to prove myself to the cursed nobles and the Versian people.”

“What should we do?” Lemrina asked so nervously her voice shivered.

Slaine arched an eyebrow as he smiled while feeling horribly pleased.

“Let them come to us. The survivors will be forced into submission and given as gifts in the form of blood sacrifices to my officers,” he purred and traced the coastline of Vladivostok sensually with a fingertip. “All of them.”

†††

The crew on board the newly repaired amphibious assault ship was busy preparing for the oncoming battle, just like on every other ship in the small fleet that had gathered in the East China Sea. Everywhere crewmembers marched through the passageways with different kinds of equipment in their hands. Some carried weapons while others carried tools and utilities. No one had time for idling; each and every crewmember had a spot to fill and everyone took their duties seriously before a battle. In secret, they all prayed and hoped for another sunrise after the battle.

Six days had passed since the cursed Count Mazuurek had been captured and confined. He had been starved into weakness and was locked up in a cell on board Deucalion. Apparently – according to the rumors – Count Mazuurek had been obstinate in giving information about what was going on in Vers, and had resisted the interrogation attempts without any sign of giving up and refused to abide with the humans’ demands.

Now, a battle was brewing. The fleet had about a day’s worth of sailing left to reach the coast of Vladivostok in Primorsky Krai in Vers, close to the border of China.

Inaho skipped over to the deck of the ship from the landing craft that had picked him up at Deucalion along with plenty of other crew and cargo. Soldiers and supplies were being transferred between the ships and Inaho had been assigned to the ground troops that would enter Vladivostok by landing crafts. He had nearly harassed Captain Magbaredge to assign him to the ground troops, and – after a long time of arguments – the captain had finally heeded to his request.

‘ _I have to get to wherever Slaine might be_ ,’ he thought as he stepped into the hangar bay, where soldiers and crew were as busy as ever. ‘ _I have to find him before anyone else does_.’

His friends had been transferred to the ship as well and had already arrived in the first boat that had left from the enormous aircraft carrier: Calm was supposed to help the engine crew with routine checks before he was to be transferred back to Deucalion. Inko was assisting the maintenance crew on the deck, and Nina was there to gain experience from the bridge before being transferred back to Deucalion as well. Rayet, on the other hand, was to be in the same company as Inaho.

Someone special was the reason for his interest in searching through the hangar bay of the amphibious ship now that he had come aboard. He had not seen his sister for a long time – about five months to be exact – and he was eager to see her now that they were on board the same ship. Inaho was happy to finally have his sister back for a little while. He had missed her.

Distant voices surprised him as he recognized them:

“Long time no see, Yuki! Are you here to see Inaho? He should be here any moment; he was on the boat behind us,” he heard Nina’s bright voice exclaim from somewhere at the other end of the hangar, and Inko’s voice followed happily:

“Darn it. You up and left all of a sudden, Yuki. You scared us.”

Inaho kept his pace since he was in no hurry. He could hear their conversation from far away due to his sensitive hearing, and enjoyed listening to their reunion while he slowly worked his way to his family and friends. He was happy, though, that his sister had come to the hangar to greet them all.

“Sorry. Chalk it up to grown-up reasons,” his sister answered with a gentle tone.

She was smiling – probably happy to see the children she had left several months ago were alive and all right. Inaho could tell just by listening to how her words sounded.

“We’ll be able to fight together again, right?” Inko asked with hopefulness, and Inaho could immediately picture Yuki’s expression and know what her answer would be:

‘ _She won’t answer you at all; she doesn’t want to encourage you to fight the adults’ battle_ ,’ he thought and was proved right as Yuki dodged Inko’s question:

“So, I heard you guys have been busy.”

Nina immediately answered with her usual cheerfulness:

“Yep! Plenty!”

“And you haven’t changed a bit, Yuki,” said Calm, also with a smile and a humorous tone.

‘ _We really are a family_ ,’ Inaho thought as his sister answered:

“Well, it’s only been a couple of months, hasn’t it?” She made a short pause and then exclaimed: “Oh, Rayet! Long time no see. How you like it back on Deucalion?”

“It’s okay,” the cursed girl answered.

“I’m glad.”

“Inaho is doing fine too,” Inko filled in to keep the conversation going.

‘ _Thank you_ ,’ the brunet thought as he heard his dear friend include him in the group when he was not present.

He was almost there. Their voices had increased in volume and were hiding behind cargo.

“It seems that way,” Yuki answered with worry.

“Have you spoken to him yet?” Calm wondered, and Inaho’s sister answered sighing:

“He just said hi over the radio. Maybe he thinks that’s enough.”

Inaho stepped out from behind a cargo container and made everyone jump from surprise as he answered:

“No, I was just busy.”

As Yuki turned to look at him, her eyes shone brightly while sadness lingered behind the sparkle of joy of their reunion. She hurried over to him and pulled him into a tight embrace, holding him as if she had missed him to the point of madness. She must have been terribly worried over her brother, and Inaho was well aware of how much his profession and condition troubled her.

“I’ve missed you, Nao,” she said breathlessly and gave Inaho a last squeeze before letting him go. She put her hands on his cheeks and looked him in the eye. “How are you feeling? You haven’t been hurt badly or so?”

“No. As Inko told you: I’m doing fine,” the brunet answered and noticed Inko blush as she realized he had heard her. “What about you?”

“I feel fine,” Yuki answered and waved her hand as if to brush away his voiced concern. “By the way: Congratulations for capturing a cursed count, you two! Even if I want to scold you for doing something so dangerous and flat out insane, I still must give you some kudos for succeeding with something no one else has.”

“Thanks,” Rayet answered with a smile that widened. “We have worked really hard to become a good team. Right, Inaho?”

The brunet nodded and met his sister’s look, which told him she preferred him to stay put and not dash out onto the battlefield at all. That had been Inaho’s reason to keep their previous conversation over the radio short; Yuki had immediately begun to argue with him why he was supposed to stay put on board Deucalion instead of entering enemy territory. The brunet would not have that. He wanted to find Slaine and Asseylum no matter what, and not even his sister would be allowed to get in his way.

“These two are so tight as a team that they move like they have telepathic powers,” Calm said with exaggeration. “You should see them when they’re exercising. They are like flashes of color and can knock you down before you even know what hit you.”

Yuki looked over to Calm and grinned teasingly.

“They did that on you, huh?” she asked, and the crowd chuckled while Calm blushed slightly.

“W-well yeah,” he muttered with a pout. “I was being trained to face cursed creatures if they would invade our ship and I would have to protect myself or others.”

“And how did it all turn out?” Yuki wondered, and Inko giggled:

“He was like a sitting duck and still hasn’t learned how to fight,” she said and met Calm’s glare with ease. “You are good with machines,” she told him to calm him down. “There’s nothing mechanical you cannot fix, but fighting has never been your thing.”

Rayet laughed teasingly:

“He was thrown around like a glove in the wind. Inko and Nina, too.”

The reunion continued for an hour of joyful talk before they had to get to their posts. They all knew this could be the last time they were allowed to enjoy each other’s company like this and they were all humbly and silently agreeing with each other that it was the case. In about seventy-two hours, some of them – if not each and every member of the small band of friends – could be dead. Only three days of preparation were left before the planned attack, and Inaho made sure to honor his duties and spend as much time with Yuki and his friends as he possibly could during their free time.

A horrible sensation had followed him around ever since the day the UN headquarter had informed the ships in the proximity about the Versian submarines and ordered the soldiers to prepare for the mission. This feeling had not released his shoulders from its weight even once. Something bad was about to happen and the brunet was sure it had to do with the oncoming battle. It felt unsettling since he feared this bad feeling had something to do with Slaine. Whatever it was, Inaho had to prepare for the worst.

The morning of 27th of November came and the cold temperatures had properly spread across the area. However, it was another kind of chill that crept down the UN soldiers’ spine as they watched the silent city of Vladivostok from the sea while their breaths turned into mists in the cold. It was so still and quiet it looked like a city of ghosts in the morning light.

“What … is going on?” Rayet asked and lowered the binoculars Inaho had handed to her after he had taken a first look. They were in the air-cushioned landing craft that had been prepared with a company of 180 soldiers, floating right outside the city coastline. “There’s no one there,” the cursed girl continued and turned to look at Inaho, who stared at the city with suspicion.

“Vladivostok is the former Russian Pacific Fleet’s home port and is supposed to be largest enemy port in the Pacific Ocean,” the brown-haired boy said and felt the uneasiness grow. “It can’t be abandoned. It’s just impossible.”

“Then it’s a trap?” the red-haired vampire asked and sighed. “What now?”

No military ships and submarines were in the area. The only ships that could be seen were of the commercial kind, and all of them looked abandoned. According to the spies, the military ships had disappeared from the shore and were fighting rebels in Japan. The submarines had disappeared as well and none of the UN ships had noticed any kind of activity below the surface. There were no military vehicles nor guards of any kind in the area as far as the eye could see and the sensors had picked up nothing.

‘ _This is bad_ ,’ the brunet thought. ‘ _I need to get to shore and find some kind of clue of what has happened here and where Slaine might be. Saazbaum was in control of this area, which means this area has fallen into Slaine’s hands according to his speech_.’

“We have to wait for further orders,” Inaho answered the cursed girl, and the entire UN fleet began a long wait while the superiors consulted with each other about what to do about this unforeseen situation.

Everyone was on high alert; no one let their guard down even after several hours had gone by. Inaho and Rayet had kept their attention on the shore to see if there was any kind of enemy movement, but the area seemed abandoned. The only thing suspicious about the area was the stillness itself. They reported back to the officers at even intervals and got information about the emptiness of the area now and then, and – after they had watched and scanned the shoreline for a total of six hours – the order to go ashore reached the landing crafts waiting to perform, and they began to move.

Inaho was incredibly tense and felt his muscles ready themselves for battle when the landing craft moved closer to the shore. Once they arrived, no one dared to move at first to take the first step onto enemy territory. Even Inaho hesitated. The first one to get up from their seat and jump over to the shore was Rayet, who was dressed in her usual UV-protective gear. Inaho watched her walk around to investigate the proximity and watched her back by keeping an eye on the area behind her. Once she had determined the area to be secured, she walked up to the landing craft and said:

“I can’t find or sense enemies at all. There’s no one here.”

Her words soothed the fear and coaxed out the courage in the soldiers. Inaho jumped over to the harbor pavement as well and slowly, one by one, the soldiers dared to follow. The company from other landing crafts came to the shore as well, and slowly and steadily – with small steps and security set on high – they began to advance deeper into the city.

Inaho had lost track of the time once they reached a monument standing in the middle of the city’s central square. It consisted of a thirty meter high sculpture and two multi-figure sculptures. The tall sculpture was of a Soviet man holing a banner in one hand and a combat trumpet in the other. The sculpture’s banner was clad in Vers Empire’s flag, and it waved leisurely in the chilly wind.

“This is too weird,” Rayet said and looked around the square. “The city can’t be abandoned and, yet, there’s no one here to meet us.”

Inaho looked around and watched the human soldiers slowly advance further into the city. It was too peaceful, he thought. He had to admit he felt afraid of the silence since he knew something was terribly wrong. The sun was sinking in the sky and only three hours remained before it would set behind the horizon.

“We should head back to our ship,” Inaho said to the cursed girl. “The darkness will-“

A movement in the corner of his eye made him instantly turn his attention to a large street between two buildings, behind the monument. A lonely figure watched them from afar, sheltering itself from the rays of the sun in the shadow of the buildings. Burgundy coat tails swayed in the cold wind and hands covered by leather gloves rose up to remove the helmet from the beings head.

Pale skin…

Blue eyes…

A silver crown made of blond hair…

Inaho met the sharp eyes of the one he longed to see the most and stared at the coldness in them stare back at him. His heart began to pound in his chest and his breath was caught in his throat as he realized the horrible truth that stood before him.

“Slaine…” he whispered and watched the young man who put the helmet back on and suddenly turned around and disappeared down the road. He ran with the incredible speed of a cursed creature. “SLAINE!”

“What is it?!” Rayet exclaimed from surprise, but Inaho had no time to explain anything.

Before he had had the chance to think things through, Inaho was chasing after the elusive bat in a desperate attempt to hunt him down.

‘ _Slaine! Don’t run!_ ’ he thought and ran as fast as his legs would carry him. The burgundy coat danced a long way ahead of him as the cursed Slaine ran. ‘ _I won’t lose you!_ ’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zomg! Can't wait to write the next chapter! I hope you enjoyed this even if it was a really long one.


	30. Attack on the Cursed Land 1

****

Several hours had gone by and the sun was slowly creeping toward the horizon to hide behind the mountains. The day was coming to an end. The humans had arrived early in the morning and not moved from their positions until six hours had gone by without any activity that could be considered hostile, but then – as if they had decided to willingly stir a sleeping beast – several landing crafts had been sent out to the shore of Vladivostok.

No one in the area moved. They all waited patiently and no radio communications were made between the waiting soldiers to prevent their radio signals from being caught by the UN’s listening sensors. Information traveled by foot instead; one single cursed soldier hurried from building to building, hiding in the shadows and behind the walls in order to hide from the UN’s prying eyes and relayed the information they had to those in hiding.

“They are here” was all the soldier needed to say.

The cursed soldiers were hiding deep inside the buildings one kilometer away from the harbor where the landing crafts arrived, and kept a sharp eye on the humans who dared to venture out onto enemy territory. Now and then an aircraft circled over the city to look for any suspicious movements, but the cursed soldiers knew their hiding places and orders. They knew when they should attack and where and how, and Slaine was sure they would perform with absolute perfection.

The past days had been busy for the young cursed count. The surface fleets had been sent away to make the humans disoriented of why Vladivostok – the largest Versian pacific harbor – was empty. The ships were fighting rebels in Japan, but it was just a cover-up; the rebels in Japan were weak enough a single fleet would have been able to take them down without much effort and were not considered to be worthy enemies. The territory had belonged to Cruhteo at first, and then it had been claimed by Saazbaum, and, now, it belonged to Slaine; the rebels had been overwhelmed a long time ago. Despite that, Slaine had ordered the fleets away to confuse the UN fleet consisting of a mighty number of twelve ships that – according to the intelligence gathered by aerial reconnaissance performed days ago – was about to attack Vladivostok.

He had the submarines after all: They lay completely still in wait on the bottom of the sea, a little further out to keep them hidden from sonars.

All thirty-six of them.

The area had been emptied of cursed creatures and the citizens had been ordered to seek shelter outside the city borders and hidden soldiers had taken their place in the buildings to hide from the aircrafts’ sensors. The first kilometer into the city from the harbor was empty to give the humans a sense of false security and lure them in, but the area would soon become a battleground – a sacrifice Slaine was prepared to make in order to take down a UN fleet, especially the fleet with the largest aircraft carrier in the world. The UN was in a crisis due to their resources petering out in a fast pace and the more damage were done to them the quicker the organization would dissipate. Slaine would gladly contribute by throwing fuel into the fire.

‘ _Come on…_ ’ he thought impatiently and felt his needlelike teeth tingle as his hunting instincts awakened properly for the first time. ‘ _What are you humans doing out there?_ ’

He leaned his back against the wall in an abandoned store behind the old USSR monument on the central square, and waited for the enemy to find their way there. The animal in him wanted to hunt so badly even his nails began to itch, making him claw the wall. It calmed him somewhat to feel the dry paint pull at his nails as he dragged them over the wall, and he released a pleased sigh.

Two more hours went by after the information of the humans arriving to the harbor had been relayed to him by the informing soldier. Slaine was madly curious how far into the city the humans had ventured. The wait was shredding at his patience, slowly but steadily. He was sure all of the cursed soldiers felt the same way as he, but they obeyed orders and waited for Slaine’s signal to attack the humans without voicing their impatience.

“ _We shall all do this together!_ ” Slaine had preached to his men. “ _All of us are responsible for the outcome of this battle, so make sure to perform with honor and dignity that will make you worthy of celebration._ ”

As he had clawed the paint away from the wall sounds from outside were heard and he immediately dodged beneath the store window to look outside. His heart would have run out of control from the thrill and anxiousness at seeing the enemy soldiers slowly sneak down the central square had he been a human, but, now, it was perfectly still and cold. There were around seventy soldiers slowly walking down the square, looking around for enemies and moving in close formation.

‘ _Finally_ ,’ Slaine thought and felt a smile spread on his lips. However, is quickly faded as his eyes found a target he had not expected in the crowd. Brown hair and an orange uniform was caught his field of focus and made it impossible to tear his eyes away from the boy. ‘ _Orange!_ ’

Jealousy and thrill mixed in his mind and his teeth tingled worse now that he had the half-human boy in his sight. He wanted to sink his fangs into the boy’s neck. He wanted to hear his heartbeat and breaths when being chased, and he wanted to steal his warmth and sense his scent once he caught him.

Inaho Kaizuka was his prey and Slaine had to act quickly before someone else took him. He had to act before he gave his men the signal to attack.

He put his helmet and gloves on and got up from his hiding place to determinedly walk out through the door, out onto the street that ran between old and large buildings away from the central square. His eyes were focused on Orange the entire time and – just as expected – Orange noticed his movements almost immediately and turned his attention to Slaine.

‘ _Do you recognize me now that I’m cursed?_ ’ Slaine wondered and felt his needlelike teeth tingle to badly he gritted his teeth together.

The sun lay low enough on the sky that large shadows covered the street where Slaine stood, and, slowly and resolutely, the young cursed count removed his helmet to show the half-human boy his identity. Orange’s expression turned into genuine shock as they stared at each other; he had clearly not expected Slaine to show up like this and something told the vampire count the boy would run after him if Slaine decided to disappear down the road.

‘ _Come at me_ ,’ Slaine thought and put the helmet on, turned around and began running.

“Slaine!” he heard the other yell behind him and, soon, steps began to follow the running count.

Slaine raised his hand to the microphone on his throat and gave out his order:

“Activate the ECM’s! The humans are in the city. All units, attack!”

That was the start of the awaited battle. Cursed soldiers dashed out from their hiding places and it did not take long before screams and the sharp echoes of weapons were heard in the city. All sensors and radios were jammed – even the ones on Vers’s side – to prevent any communications with the UN ships waiting outside the harbor. The UN soldiers in the city were completely isolated from their peers at sea, who were about to be attacked by the iron sharks waiting beneath the surface.

“Slaine! Wait!” Orange yelled behind him, but Slaine kept running. He was steering his steps toward a shopping center where he would be given a private time with his prey; Slaine wanted to devour him in peace without worry for being disturbed by enemies. “Stop!”

‘ _Come, come!_ ’ Slaine thought thrilled. A devilish smile curved his lips as he longed for the precious blood of the boy chasing him.

†††

The young man running in front of him was fast. He was so fast Inaho had difficulties of catching up to him. What on earth had happened to him? Slaine was faster than Inaho; faster than a fourth generation vampire, which meant Slaine had been cursed by a second generation cursed creature. The young man Inaho was chasing had been turned into a vampire, and a third generation at that.

The realization was difficult for him to digest since it was too horrible to accept. Inaho feared what Seylum had told him about humans turning into cursed creatures was true. What if Slaine had changed completely? What if he had become a cold-hearted tyrant like the other cursed nobles and aristocrats Inaho had encountered?

‘ _You’re still human, right?_ ’ the brunet thought with desperation. ‘ _Behind that curse, you’re still the kind and warm boy Seylum spoke about, aren’t you?_ ’

Why had Slaine been cursed? What was the point of him wearing a count’s uniform? The silver-crowned prince should have been human and dressed in a vassal’s grey uniform. Now, the image Inaho had of him had changed completely and the brunet’s heart ached the more he thought about it. It was frightening how strongly he felt for the one he was chasing; he was more passionate about Slaine than he had been about anyone else.

“Slaine! Wait!” he called out, but the cursed count in front of him did not answer. “Stop!”

‘ _Don’t run from me_ ,’ Inaho thought and ran as fast as he could to catch up to the cursed young man. ‘ _Let me catch you._ ’

Guns and explosions began to sound in the city, accompanied by people screaming from pain and fear. The brown-haired boy had been right about the city being suspiciously empty. It had been a trap. Despite knowing this, Inaho had no time to bother about the others around him now that he had the one he had been looking for in front of him. He had to capture Slaine before anyone else did to keep him safe from murderous hands and ensure no harm was done to him – especially now that he was a cursed creature.

Slaine ran inside a shopping center and disappeared in the shadows. Inaho dashed in through the door and came to a sudden stop as he saw the helmet and leather gloves Slaine had worn lying on the tiled floor. The inside of the building was deathly quiet and the sounds from the battle, which had begun to rage all around, poured in through the doors and echoed from the frail walls of the shopping center. No lights were on in the building but all stores stood open – as if they had been abandoned in the middle of a busy shopping day – and a couple of skylights here and there cast golden rays inside the shopping complex. It gave the building an eerie atmosphere since it was supposed to be a buzzing place, but it was standing abandoned and void of living beings.

Inaho looked around to search for Slaine, but the cursed young man had disappeared.

“Slaine? Don’t hide,” Inaho said and began walking down the large space. He looked at each store he passed on either side of him to make sure he would not be attacked by the silver-crowned prince, and the eerie atmosphere of the shopping complex made his skin crawl with unease. It felt strangely horrifying to be hunted like this. “I mean you no harm,” he tried again, but no answer came from the shadows.

‘ _Where did he go?_ ’ the brunet wondered and stopped to look up at the second floor above a pair of escalators that stood still. ‘ _Is he toying with me?_ ’

“What has happened to you?” the half-human boy tried to start some kind of conversation with the cursed creature he knew was watching him from somewhere.

A bright but quiet sound – like that of a coin being flipped – sounded from his right and Inaho turned his attention to the source of the sound just in time to see the shell of an empty ammunition cartridge fall down right before him and, behind it, the haunting glare of a killer came rushing toward him and reflected a golden flash from the skylights. Slaine had a mad and cold shine in his eyes, like a predator that was high on the thrill of a chase. Inaho barely had any time to dodge from the attack. He somehow managed to avoid the attack by throwing himself away and rolling over the floor, and – once he came up onto his feet again – Slaine stood before him, between Inaho and the door – trapping the orange clad boy inside the building.

“Slaine…” Inaho gasped with his heart beating wildly in his ribcage. The pulse was pounding in his ears as he had been unpleasantly surprised by the swiftness of his opponent.

Slaine tilted his head slightly, reacting to Inaho’s gasps and continued listening to his breaths with frightening focus. The blond cursed creature then tilted his head to the other side while staring at the brunet with eyes of a hungry beast, as if he was adjusting the angle of his hearing.

‘ _He looks like Rayet did when she attacked me nearly two years ago_ ,’ Inaho thought and remembered to the horrifying moment in the staircase of the ship Wadatsumi, where a hungry Rayet had pushed him down and taken blood from him by force. ‘ _But you’re a third generation vampire; you’re supposed to be able to control your hunger_.’

Or, did Slaine even _want_ to control it?

The cursed count took a step forward. He moved with such strength his body looked weightless. Only the light steps against the floor echoed in the complex. The cursed blond kept his attention on the brunet intently, and Inaho answered the other’s advancement by taking a step back; he would not risk of being attacked by surprise in case Slaine was hungry. The silver-crowned prince did not even blink as he observed Inaho with utmost care, which made Inaho’s hairs stand on end as he found himself caught by Slaine’s gaze; it would be difficult to break free from that kind of attention since he knew that if he blinked, Slaine would use that brief moment of loss of focus to attack him.

Inaho’s mind went through every kind of plan he could come up with to stop Slaine’s senseless hunt.

‘ _What do I do?_ ’ Inaho wondered and stared back into Slaine’s eyes, which were so cold he might as well have been the prince of ice and winter. They glowed like the eyes of a feline.

“Slaine,” he tried again. “What happened to you?”

As the cursed count took a second step forward without answering – with eyes burning with the instincts of a predator – the brunet understood he would be the prey no matter what he said to him. To get a chance to speak to the cursed blond, Inaho had to trap him somehow – probably even fight him.

Why had Slaine become like this? What had happened to him?

The moment Slaine took a third step forward, Inaho braced himself for the approaching impact. He breathed as calmly as he could while they stared at each other. Slaine looked majestic when he moved slowly toward the orange clad boy. Each movement he made was haunting and beautiful and Inaho’s hyper-focused mind was briefly infested with sorrow. The human Slaine had already been as perfect as anyone could be; these frightening movements did not suit him at all.

The calm and ghostly steps suddenly became fast enough Inaho barely had time to avoid the attacking Slaine. The cursed blond came in so fast Inaho only had time to raise his guard and hope he could absorb the impact of a kick aimed at his chest. It felt like a lightning had struck him; the attack was so fast and powerful Inaho felt his feet lift from the tiled floor as he was sent flying. He managed to clumsily stay on his feet when he landed, but the brief moment of staggering gave Slaine another opening to attack, and aimed a fist against Inaho’s face. The brunet dodged it – feeling the air current from the fist brush his cheek as he dodged to his left and took a hold of Slaine’s arm.

‘ _His technique is rough. He doesn’t really know how to use his speed and where to aim_ ,’ Inaho silently concluded as he took silent notes from studying the blond’s movements.

Even if Slaine was stronger and faster than him, Inaho had a technique that hopefully would allow him to face the cursed count on equal terms. However, the odds were against him no matter how Inaho analyzed his situation since the swiftness was the main decisive factor in a fight with a cursed creature.

Their eyes met and Slaine’s were smiling back at him with black flames dancing in his beautiful aqua colored glass marbles. The gaze was so unlike him Inaho simply could not accept the horrifying change in him. The curse could not wipe away the warmth the human boy had been told to have. Inaho was aware of to what degree he believed in Seylum’s stories about the human boy she had loved dearly; he was probably delusional about the other.

‘ _But Slaine can’t be gone!_ ’ he thought. ‘ _I have to coax him back from behind that curse somehow_.’

“Slaine-“ Inaho began, but the cursed silver-crowned prince was merciless and attacked him again by swinging out the arm Inaho was holding, throwing the brunet across the floor. Slaine’s strength was incredible. To avoid landing on his back, Inaho landed with a roll and got back onto his feet once again. “I don’t want to fight you,” he said with a voice quivering from his violent heartbeats and watched the cursed count slowly turn around before lightning was about to strike the brunet once again.

Inaho managed to push the other’s kick away from him and decided to get offensive as well for the time being. Slaine was slightly thrown off balance when Inaho averted his kick by guiding it away from the targeted area with a skillful parry, and the brunet seized the opportunity to deal a kick against the cursed blond’s hip and added as much force behind it as possible to shove the blond away from him and create distance again. The rubber soles of Slaine’s boots screeched against the tiled floor as the cursed count slid across it without falling over, leaving dark marks on the shiny floor.

The moment Slaine’s heels had planted securely to the floor, he dashed toward Inaho once more.

When the cursed young man attacked, Inaho pushed his attack away again and dealt a blow to Slaine’s back with a knifehand strike, and he heard a pained huff escape from between the other’s lips. Slaine staggered forward but quickly regained his balance and turned around with his arm swinging against Inaho’s cheek and cut a small wound on the brunet’s skin with sharp nails. It stung and blood tricked down to Inaho’s chin.

The scent of his blood gave Slaine’s already predatory eyes a crazed gleam and the blond became absorbed by the brunet’s blood. Inaho quickly wiped it away and gritted his teeth.

“Stop this,” Inaho said and gasped for breath. “We don’t need to fight.”

Slaine’s devilish smile widened and the first words he spoke were cold:

“Correct you are, Orange. Why not admit defeat instead of fighting me?”

Swiftly, the cursed creature dashed up to the brunet from his left, and, when Inaho prepared to absorb the impact of the other’s attack, Slaine feinted by shifting to his right and took the brunet by surprise. A harsh blow landed in Inaho’s stomach and was so strong he was knocked off his feet and flew across the floor, landed on his right shoulder and rolled over the floor like a ragdoll. He stopped at the entrance to a hardware store that was gently lit up by a skylight. Shadows had already begun to block the sunrays from entering the skylight inside the store, and heavy shadows lay over the shelves and tools as if someone had covered them with dark veils.

“Agh!” he gasped as his shoulder ached with mindboggling pain. It had been dislocated.

“I never imagined I would find you here in this city. I must say your smell is sweet and delightful,” Slaine purred so coldly Inaho felt shivers run down his spine.

The cursed count’s steps sounded against the polished floor and came closer for each painful gasp Inaho took. The brunet had to get up. He had to hide and escape. Slaine was out to kill him. There was no mistake about it.

‘ _What do I do?_ ’ Inaho thought and staggered back onto his feet and looked up at the cursed blond approaching him with calm and alluring steps like that of a vamp.

“You have already lost, Orange,” Slaine said with a condescending smile. “I will not let you escape, but humor me for a little while before I feed on you.”

“Why?” Inaho gasped and took a step back. He clutched his aching shoulder and took another step back to enter the store. “Why are you like this? I’m not your enemy.”

Slaine did not answer. Instead, he followed Inaho who backed further and further into the store. Inaho knew he had to do whatever he could to run. It was impossible to save Slaine from himself the way things were now. Inaho had not expected Slaine to have been cursed, and by a second generation vampire at that. He had not prepared himself to face the silver-crowned prince like this.

Inaho decided to dash deeper inside the store to find shelter behind shelves and object to prevent Slaine from getting too close to him. He needed to lure the cursed creature away from the entrance of the store and run out of the shopping complex, but he knew Slaine would steal the time Inaho needed to come up with a solid plan by searching for him.

Slaine did not immediately follow; the cursed creature was in a mood to toy with his prey. Instead, a cold laugh made a chill run down the half-human boy’s spine as his hunter found Inaho’s attempt to hide amusing, and Slaine patiently gave him time to hide.

“You should know it is useless, Orange,” he heard Slaine say with a dangerous purr as Inaho hid behind a row of shelves. Something really bad had happened to Slaine to make him sound that cold and treacherous. It was as if all gentleness had poured out of him. “Hide all you want; I will find you.”

The cursed count snickered from delight somewhere behind the shelves and his steps, which sounded sharp against the shiny floor, began to close in on Inaho. The brunet dared not to answer.

‘ _How do I hide my tracks?_ ’ he then thought and sneaked around a corner of the shelf he was hiding behind; Slaine was moving past the passageway where Inaho had been hiding. ‘ _He said moments earlier he can smell me_ ,’ the brunet then thought and listened to Slaine’s steps as they came closer and closer. ‘ _I need to hide my scent_.’

Luckily for him, he was crouching next to a shelf with paint supplies. He quickly took four spray cans with clear coat and stuck three of them in his utility belt. Then he popped the lid off from the fourth and grabbed masking tape from the shelf on the opposite of him in the small alley. He taped the cap down and left the can spraying on the floor as he hurried down the alley and ventured deeper into the store. There, he did the same thing with a second can and moved away from it, and he repeated it with the other two cans as well and left them at strategic places in the store to pollute the air with the strong and acrid smell and sound.

“Playing hide and seek, are we?” he heard Slaine say with great amusement when Inaho hid next to a large cabinet with fire extinguishers, and Inaho’s breaths shivered from distress; the brunet was becoming genuinely frightened now that his fight or flight instinct was stirred. “I may not find you by your smell, but make a noise and I will.”

Inaho listened intently to the taps from the cursed creature’s steps as it moved patiently in the alleys between the shelves.

Tap…

Tap…

Tap…

The sound was getting close and he had to quietly change his position. He looked around and then stared at the fire extinguishers. None of them contained carbon dioxide; he could not fall back onto the same tactic as he and his friends had used back in Miyasaki where they had fought the cursed knight with the cold gas released from the containers. Instead, these he had next to him contained powder. Perhaps they could be used to create a smoke screen to hide in and confused Slaine with?

As he was about to reach for one of the fire extinguishers, something crashed against a shelf in an alley to his left and then a louder crash rumbled and shook the floor as the shelf collapsed. The sound was so loud the brunet jumped and had to suffocate a frightened yelp to stay hidden. Slaine probably attempted to scare a noise out of him by surprising him with unexpected noise. His heart raced and he attempted to hold his breath, but he was in need for oxygen and the attempt resulted in making his lungs burn, forcing him to gasp for air. The toxic air he had created was taking effect as well; Inaho was feeling lightheaded.

‘ _I can’t save him like this_ ,’ Inaho thought and felt his body tremble. ‘ _My body is exhausted already from running and the brief fight where I was hurt_.’

He felt the heaviness of his gun hanging on his hip, but he knew it would not hurt the vampire more than with a bullet wound and possibly a little pain from the silver. Since Slaine was most probably a third generation vampire, the silver would not make much difference unless Inaho emptied the entire magazine into him.

‘ _But I don’t want to hurt him like that_ ,’ the brunet thought troubled. The steps of the cursed creature moved patiently closer again, and Inaho took one of the fire extinguishers and moved once more while he thought intently on what to do. ‘ _I can’t talk to him since he won’t listen, and I can’t fight him when I’m hurt_ ,’ the brunet thought and looked around a corner of a shelf to see if the coast was clear. He had to move closer to the store entrance, but, to his horror, he saw Slaine guard it by not moving too far away from it. ‘ _I have to go for it anyway…_ ’

Inaho leaned his head back and took a silent and deep breath to collect his thoughts. He regretted he had to retreat. He regretted he had not been able to save Slaine from being cursed. He regretted he had not had the chance to speak to him, but no matter how much he regretted things, Slaine would not listen nor comply with his requests:

_Come with me._

_Escape from this hell._

_Let me help you._

_Let me save you._

_I’ll do anything for you_.

He pulled the safety pin and then clamped down on the handle. His aching shoulder protested but he had to grit his teeth and push through the pain. The powder began spraying around him and he quickly taped the handle down with the masking tape he had with him. The sound attracted the cursed count to the spot Inaho was at and the brunet quickly traced his steps to take a second fire extinguisher with him as he began running down the alley next to the one Slaine was in. The air was quickly polluted with powder that created a cloud in the alley, and, once Inaho heard Slaine follow his running steps, the brunet turned around and released a cloud of powder toward the hungry beast chasing him.

“Orange!” he heard Slaine curse while protecting his eyes from the powder. “You will not escape!”

“Why won’t you come with me?” Inaho said in a last attempt to speak to the blond. “Why are you this persistent with-?”

A projectile came flying toward him and hit the fire extinguisher in Inaho’s hands. Less than a second later, the pressure container exploded and Inaho was blown off his feet and landed on his back on the floor in front of a wall with wooden panels in upright stacks. Immediately, running steps came closer with horrific speed and Slaine emerged from the cloud with chilling eyes focused on the brunet. Inaho tried to desperately get up on his feet and run, but – just as he managed to get up – a hand grabbed him by his throat and shoved him violently against the wooden panels.

“Agh!” Inaho gasped and coughed while a couple of panels fell down on the floor on either side of him.

“Got you,” he heard his hunter whisper victoriously, close enough Inaho felt his breath tickle his cheeks.

The hand holding his throat squeezed tighter, just enough to make it feel distressing; Inaho could still breathe but his throat felt tight.

“Slaine,” the brunet gasped and raised his left hand onto Slaine’s wrist. “Listen to me for a while.”

“Nothing of what you have to say is of worth to me,” the cursed creature purred and studied the dusty half-human with his glass marble eyes. Slaine looked contented. “Finally I get the pleasure of killing you.”

‘ _But why?!_ ’

Fear gripped a hold of him and crawled down his body. It made him restless from distress and Inaho began struggling as much as he possibly could in the vampire’s grip, but he was too weak for anything after the running and fighting, attempt at escaping and the fire extinguisher exploding. He tried pushing him, kicking him and clawing at him, but Slaine did not budge. Instead, the cursed silver-crowned prince endured the abuse – even when Inaho cut a wound open on his wrist that peeked out from beneath the cuff of the burgundy uniform.

“Fearful, are we?” Slaine whispered and pulled Inaho out just slightly from the wall before he slammed the half-human’s back against the panels once more. Inaho froze as he understood how sincere Slaine was. “Fight me not.”

As the cursed creature bared its fangs and forced Inaho’s face to the side and exposed his neck, the brunet took a desperate breath to yell:

“Her Highness would cry if she knew you did this!”

Slaine stopped and hovered his lips right above the pulsating vein in Inaho’s throat. The boy’s skin prickled from feeling the vampire’s moist breath against his neck. Slowly, the grip around his throat tightened some more and breathing became difficult.

“Silence…” the cursed count growled silently. “What do you know about what she would do and not?”

It was a question that did not need an answer, but Inaho had to try with whatever he could to save his own life – even provoke the other to throw the cursed young man off his trail of thought.

“She said she loved you,” Inaho managed to force out with a weak breath that barely pushed through the area where the hand clutched him tightly. To his surprise, the cursed count released the pressure slightly, allowing him to speak. Inaho coughed and breathed in a greedy gulp of the polluted air and, when he opened his eye, he met Slaine’s icy marbles glaring at him at an half an arm’s length away from his face. Inaho looked back at him, saying quietly: “She told me you are the kindest she has ever met since you care about others no matter if they’re cursed or human. Why are you like this?”

Slaine did not answer him at first. Instead he stared at the brunet with sharp and studying eyes and seemed to be thinking deeply as if a battle of some sort was silently raging inside him.

‘ _Don’t glare at me like that_ ,’ the brunet thought and let his body relax somewhat to rest the tired muscles and aching bones. He was exhausted.

“Slaine,” Inaho continued silently. “Have I done something to anger you? Why are you this cruel? She would hate to see you like this.” Slaine’s eyes softened somewhat, as if what Inaho told him seemed to affect the cursed blond somehow. Inaho decided to soften as well, and asked with a weak voice: “What happened to you?”

The cursed count sighed deeply and closed his eyes while the blond eyebrows knitted together into a frown. Inaho’s words had struck a chord in him; something unpleasant was coiling in Slaine’s mind and it was obvious the cursed blond was troubled by it.

“Did she curse you?” the pitiful vampire asked with a dangerous hiss. Inaho was taken aback by the question. “There are no third generation vampires among you humans. It means you must have been cursed by her, since you are a fourth generation vampire.”

‘ _What?_ ’ the brunet thought and stared at the other, feeling baffled. Why did he care about who had cursed Inaho?

“Were you cursed by Saazbau-?” he began to ask instead, but Slaine slammed him against the wooden panels again, silencing him.

“Agh!” the boy gasped as his head slammed against the panels and made him momentarily dizzy.

“Did she curse you?!” Slaine yelled with fury.

‘ _What is going on?_ ’ the brunet thought and frowned.

“No…” he answered, but was slammed against the panels again. “Ugh…!”

“Liar!” the cursed blond growled.

Slaine was acting strange. He had not behaved like this back on the beach in Malaysia where they had met the last time. Back then, he had been struggling and reacted with anger because he had been afraid that Seylum would die if Inaho took him with him; he had been fighting to protect Seylum’s life. Now, he was angry because he seemed to think Inaho had been cursed by the cursed princess, and reacted violently to it. It was as if Slaine took it personally in a negative way.

“She didn’t curse me,” Inaho clarified with a stronger voice than before and stared back at the angry Bat. “It was an accident. Back in the hangar bay on board Tharsis, she was shot by Saazbaum and her blood stained me. I didn’t die after you shot me and survived somehow, but then my sister found me. She began crying and her tears washed some of Seylum’s blood into my mouth. A couple of days later, I woke up as a half-human and half-cursed creature.”

Slaine’s anger dissipated somewhat at hearing the reason to why Inaho was infected with Seylum’s curse. The brunet thought of it as peculiar at first. Why was it crucial he had not purposefully been cursed by her? Then, the second thought came with an answer, and Inaho finally understood why Slaine was reacting the way he did.

“You knew I carried her curse,” he said and sighed with relief. “You thought she had infected me with the intention of cursing me, didn’t you?” He smiled weakly. “Are you perhaps jealous that I was given her curse, but she wasn’t the one to curse you?”

Slaine’s eyes widened as he stared at the brunet. At first Inaho thought his comment had shocked the other, but then he noticed Slaine stared at his smiling lips with strange fixation, as if he saw something there that shocked him powerfully enough it made his time stand completely still. What went through the cursed man’s mind? Why was he staring at Inaho’s lips so intently he seemed to forget everything else – even forgetting the fury and urge to kill he had expressed moments earlier? The hand around Inaho’s throat loosened and fell onto his shoulder, gripping his orange uniform with fingers as cold as a corpse’s.

“Slaine?” the brunet asked cautiously, and the cursed creature looked up at him from the boy’s lips with great confusion but held his answer. “What is it?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY they met again! This chapter became super long, so I cut it in half. The second part will come up within just a couple of days, perhaps already tomorrow or so when I have had time and energy to check it through. The boys exhaust me like hell! xD


	31. Attack on the Cursed Land 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next part as promised. It took me a little while to check this through. Let's jump straight into the moment we've (kinda) been waiting for. Just a heads up for triggers: I had to add two more tags for this, and I'll let them speak for themselves... Hope you enjoy.

The cursed silver-haired prince looked as if he had seen a ghost. Fright and shock painted his perfect countenance and mixed with confusion, but something made him hold onto the half-human boy instead of pushing him away. Inaho stared back at him, perplexed of what had happened and why.

‘ _Do you still react to human warmth?_ ’ Inaho wondered and slowly and hesitantly raised his left hand to cup Slaine’s cheek.

A visible shiver ran through the blond who closed his eyes, and a weak and trembling breath escaped his lips, just like last time Inaho had touched him like this. Human warmth was still comforting for the other; Slaine still reacted preciously to his warmth. It pleased him and made a kind smile spread over the brunet’s lips the moment a human gaze flickered in Slaine’s cold eyes, and Inaho whispered:

“There you are, Slaine. I’m relieved.”

Slaine opened his eyes again.

‘ _I feared you were gone forever_.’

The lost creature before him stared at his single burgundy eye and then looked at the smile on Inaho’s lips again, then back up to meet his gaze and then back to the smiling lips where he stopped to fixatedly stare at them. A soft and sultry breath collided with Inaho’s lips and he watched the cursed count’s expression turn from shock and confusion to some kind of surrender. The hand pulling at the orange uniform let go of it and Slaine quickly caressed along Inaho’s ribs on either side of him and stopped at the brunet’s hips and gripped them tightly. Inaho frowned. What was Slaine thinking?

“Is it my smile?” he asked quietly, and Slaine looked up at him instantly and tilted his head slightly the way he had done before. It made him look like a curious wolf when he listened to Inaho’s voice. “Slaine?”

Slaine took a step forward and closed the distance between them, and, before Inaho had gotten a chance to understand what he was doing, cold lips covered his and pushed his head back against the wooden panels. The hands resting on his hips squeezed him tightly – wantonly – and Slaine’s cold body pushed up against him, leaving no space between them.

“Mmph!” the brunet gasped through his nose and squeezed his eye shut when Slaine’s kiss deepened and the assaulting hands squeezed his flesh through the uniform.

The closeness and the devouring kisses sent a shiver down Inaho’s spine and made his knees tremble. He was unsure of what was going on since he had never been this close to someone before, and certainly not with a cursed creature. Not like this. The kiss he had given Inko and the kiss he had shared with Slaine several months ago were nothing like this. This time, Slaine’s lips were experienced. They were softly and greedily playing with Inaho’s and sucked and licked them as if they were sweeter than honey. His tongue licked his lips in between the kisses and pushed deep inside Inaho’s mouth – licking the roof of his mouth and coiled it around his tongue like he was trying to devour it while mixing their saliva.

“Ah…!”

A breath escaped Inaho’s throat as Slaine changed the angle of their kiss and pushed up against him that Inaho’s ribs protested by aching. Slaine’s hands rubbed his hips and squeezed his flesh greedily, pulled at his clothes and breathed with lusty huffs as he advanced his heated assault. Inaho tried to push the other away with his unharmed arm, but Slaine reacted by pulling away from him and slammed him against the wooden panels again, warning him from resisting his advances.

“Ugh! Slaine…!” Inaho gasped and looked up at the cursed count, who gave him a warning glare that ordered the half-human boy to be obedient. Then he attacked the other’s lips again and raised one of his molesting hands to take a hold of Inaho’s hair and hold his head still. “Mmh!”

There was barely any room to breathe. The silver-crowned prince’s kisses were deep and shameless, and his undead body pushed against him again with such force the wooden panels clattered behind the trapped boy. Slaine seemed to be experienced like this, and it flamed the brunet’s heart with jealousy; Slaine had had sex with someone, enough to make him confident and know what he wanted from his partner.

‘ _I don’t want this_ ,’ Inaho thought and gathered as much strength he could to push Slaine away again.

“S-stop,” he gasped the moment his lips were momentarily freed from Slaine’s. “What are you doing?”

Slaine pulled back just slightly and peered at him curiously, as if he asked Inaho why he resisted him. Inaho stared back, gasping from shock and uneasiness, and waited for his answer. Slaine, however, seemed to be in a state of restless heat. He had a certain shine in his eyes – a shine that expected his partner to succumb to him and let him do as he pleased. Who had he done these kinds of things to before? Whose body had he conquered before he tried to conquer Inaho’s?

Slaine leaned closer again and pushed their groins together – shamelessly revealing his excitement – before his lips leaned close to Inaho’s and brushed theirs together as he whispered:

“On the beach, you told me you loved me. Shouldn’t you be happy now?”

The answer and question was outrageous and unfair. Did Slaine think he had the right to do whatever he wanted just because someone had confessed to him?

“No…!” the brunet gasped and tried to squirm his body free. “This is not-“

Slaine would not listen and Inaho understood the cursed blond simply did not care if he was allowed to do what he wanted with the brunet or not. The vampire took a brutal grip of the tousled brown hair and – with a swift motion – threw Inaho onto the dusty floor. The brunet lost his breath from the impact after being forcefully thrown, and he coughed and looked up at Slaine to see the chilly glare of a hunter look back at him. He trembled. This was bad. Something had triggered Slaine to force himself on him, and Inaho genuinely feared the helpless state he was in.

‘ _I have to protect myself!_ ’

He could try running, but Slaine would catch up to him in no time because he was exhausted.

He could try fighting him, but there was little he could do for a longer period of time because of his shoulder and exhaustion.

He could- What else could he do?

‘ _Nothing_ ,’ he thought horrified and watched the hunter come closer.

He could lie down and yield to Slaine’s lust and greed, and hope the vampire would spare his life after he was done. Then again, that would be horrifying beyond anything Inaho had experienced before. This was not how he had wanted this meeting to end.

When one of Slaine’s steps landed between the brunet’s ankles, Inaho began pushing away from him with fear slithering down his throat, stirring up nausea in the pit of his stomach. The vampire would not show him mercy and Inaho knew he had to escape somehow. Perhaps there was someone from the UN close by? Perhaps he could call for help?

“Rayet,” he said trembling as he tried to call for his colleague and friend through the microphone on his throat, but there was no answer in the earphone.

Slaine chuckled with amusement.

“No one will hear you. There are jammers everywhere,” he said quietly with a chilly voice.

“Why?” Inaho asked instead and gasped from pain as his shoulder reminded him about it being dislocated. “Why are you- … doing this?”

‘ _I don’t understand._ ’

Slaine walked up to him with determined steps and pushed a cruel boot against the brunet’s chest and forced him down against the floor. Inaho tried to resist, but Slaine added enough pressure his body finally gave way for the cursed blond’s demand and his back was pushed down against the floor. He watched the vampire lean closer, adding more pressure on his chest to make it difficult for Inaho to breathe, and watched him as he grinned with a sultry look in his eerie eyes.

“Do I need a reason?” Slaine purred quietly. Both of his fangs gleamed in the last light from the skylight. He studied Inaho closely with attention unlike anyone else the brunet had encountered. It was as if he saw each hair on Inaho’s head and the texture of his skin. Slaine’s gaze caressed his face with great care, as if he was scanning it thoroughly. It was strange how fixated Slaine was on Inaho’s face, but it did not turn out to be a mystery for much longer as Slaine suddenly said quietly and with his grin fading: “That smile of yours has haunted me ever since we met in Malaysia. I did not remember who that smile belonged to but I knew it excited me just as much as Princess Asseylum’s did, but in a different way. Now I realize it was yours.” Slaine tilted his head while he maintained his focus on the brunet’s face. “Many things have happened since then as you probably have understood by now, and that smile was the last thing that made my heart race before I died. Ever since then, that haunting smile has become a symbol for carnal comfort, hence me finding great interest in you in this moment.”

Inaho frowned and stared at Slaine with shock. Had his smile been used for lustful activities? A small part of him made him feel honored his smile had been worthy of remembrance and been the last thing that excited Slaine’s dying heart, but a grand part of him made him want to grieve for what his smile had become for the other.

“Slaine, that’s-“ Inaho began with a gasp, but Slaine momentarily added more pressure on his chest to force the breath out of his lungs and silence him.

Slaine’s eyes softened somewhat now that Inaho was incapacitated, and he removed the weight from the brunet’s chest and lowered himself over his prey and stared at him preciously. A cold and seductive hand caressed Inaho’s jawline.

“Strangely, now that I know the smile that gave me great comfort belongs to you, I somehow find myself entranced by you,” the blond whispered. “I want all of your warmth.” A cold thumb brushed Inaho’s slightly parted lips and the brunet closed them immediately. Slaine clucked his tongue with annoyance and pushed the warm lips apart with his thumb, and Inaho quickly grabbed his hand and stared at the cursed creature with fear; it was the hand on the wrist he had cut open moments earlier and Slaine’s blood slowly trickled toward Inaho’s lips. “Ah,” Slaine purred as he noticed his panic, and teasingly caressed Inaho’s warm tongue while shivering from the warmth. “I guess I could curse you. Do you think my curse will clash with yours since you are still half-human?” he asked, but Inaho could only gasp as an answer while he tried to pull Slaine’s hand away. Inaho could not even bite him since there was a risk for bleeding. “Be obedient and I will refrain from sharing my curse with you. If you are good, I might even let you run back to your friends when I am done with you – if they are still breathing.”

Slaine was insane. Inaho could not doubt it anymore or explain it away. Asseylum had been right; something changed in people when they were cursed, and that change was glaring back at Inaho like a wolf staring at a hare. It felt like he had lost someone truly important. The kind and warmhearted Slaine was nearly gone. The last thing that remained of him was his desperate and precious reaction to human warmth, but that had become warped as well; it had become sexual.

Whoever had done this to Slaine deserved to be punished. Someone had sullied the dear boy Slaine had been – if not murdered him.

“Your answer?” the cursed blond demanded, and Inaho took a deep breath of nervousness.

‘ _I have to give in_ ,’ the brunet thought with nausea welling up from the pit of his stomach as the blood would soon settle on his lips. If he refused, Slaine’s blood would curse him. ‘ _And I don’t know what might happen then_.’

When he nodded, Slaine removed his hand from his mouth and smiled satisfied. It was a cold smile; not even the slightest warm and gentle.

“Give me … your word,” Inaho demanded. “Let me go back … once this is over.”

Slaine arched an eyebrow before he nodded without a word, and began removing the utility belt around Inaho’s waist with practiced hands. How many times had he undressed someone else? How many times had he kissed this person and sought comfort from them? How many times had he used their body for his own pleasure while he had been thinking of Inaho’s smile?

Why?

‘ _I’m jealous_ ,’ the brunet thought and breathed nervously as he felt Slaine’s caressing touches while all his gear was unstrapped and removed until only his uniform remained. He was already feeling naked.

“Open your uniform,” the cursed creature then whispered with a voice dripping with lustful excitement. “Invite me in.”

It was painfully humiliating. Inaho stared at him at first and trembled, but, after a while of hesitation, he finally raised a hand to the zipper to his uniform and slowly – quivering and weakly – pulled it all the way down to his waist and stopped there even if there was a bit more left of the zipper to be opened. Slaine smiled victoriously and took a hold of the zipper runner and pulled it all the way down to the brunet’s crotch. Inaho jumped as it stopped abruptly and the uniform tugged at him, and then took a shivering breath to stay calm.

“Are you afraid?” Slaine whispered and studied him pleased while his cold hands ran over the black t-shirt covering Inaho’s chest beneath the uniform, and slowly pushed the uniform open. The vampire seemed to shiver with delight as he felt Inaho’s warmth against his palms, and Slaine released a sigh and leaned over the half-human boy and kissed him again while his nails clawed at Inaho’s abdomen. “Just give me your warmth and I will be contented,” he then whispered with a less threatening voice.

“Bat…” Inaho gasped and gripped the golden shoulder of his enemy. “Don’t do this.” Slaine’s hands pushed the orange uniform off the brunet’s shoulders and pulled it slowly down to strip his prey. “If it would have been with Slaine, then I might have considered it, but like this, I-“

“Why do you keep calling me Bat and Slaine as if I have two different personalities?” Slaine asked somewhat frustrated.

The uniform was finally pulled down to the middle of Inaho’s thighs, and Slaine’s cold hands caressed the thermal underclothes greedily.

“B-because,” Inaho sighed and tried to control his terrified breathing. “Slaine wouldn’t do something like this… An intimate moment would- … would be meaningful for him.”

Slaine chuckled quietly and pulled the underclothes down as well. Chilly air made Inaho’s skin prickle.

“Perhaps you are right,” he whispered and placed himself between Inaho’s legs and pushed his abdomen against the uniform tying the brunet’s thighs together, forcing him to expose his neither region that was still covered by his underwear. Inaho fought back the panic when he heard Slaine open the zipper to his burgundy trousers while the excited count continued: “But that boy was naïve and nothing but a child. He had no place in this world, which is raging with war, and neither is your little crush in him.”

“It’s not a crush,” Inaho protested and closed his eye to take a deep breath. “I’m … devoted to him. Ahh!”

A cold hand caressed Inaho’s crotch over the underwear and sent a slithering chill down his spine. It felt wrong. It felt horrifying.

“Why?” Slaine purred and seemed pleased with Inaho’s reaction. “Why do you love him so? You hardly know him.”

‘ _Know him…_ ’ Inaho thought and looked at the vampire grinning sadistically at him. ‘ _He is still there – somewhere!_ ’

“Slaine…” he sighed and held his breath as a cold hand pulled at the lining to his underwear. “I love you. I don’t want your touch when it’s given to me like this. I love you but I’m not desperate…”

The cursed creature stopped his movements and stared at the brunet with surprise. It was as if Inaho’s words had cast a spell on him that had halted his advances for a moment due to shock. What went through that silver-crowned prince’s mind this time? Slaine was so peculiar Inaho had difficulties of even picking up hunches of what he was thinking at times.

Without a warning, the cursed creature released a frustrated growl and pulled the half-human boy’s underwear down to the uniform at his thighs and fumbled with his own clothing, and then Inaho felt the cold body push against him while cruel hands pinned his shoulders against the floor. A loud scream emitted from Inaho’s throat as his hurting shoulder ached horribly from the weight added to it. Tears sprung to his eyes and he raised the other arm to push Slaine away. He gripped the burgundy uniform and tried to throw Slaine off, but the vampire was too strong and heavy.

“No!” the brunet cried out loud with fear. “Not like this!”

The cursed creature did not hear him. He was in a world of his own and mounted Inaho with cruel lust. It felt disgusting. It felt sorrowing. It felt hurtful and humiliating. Something cold and hard pushed against the brown-haired boy who desperately tried to find a way to escape this terror, but his thoughts and emotions instantly halted as his flesh was brutally pushed open. Then this stiff and cold trespasser pushed deeper into him and pulled at his inner walls with painful friction. His mouth opened to scream a silent scream and his body froze from the horror from what was being done to him. The hand that had tried to push his assaulter away kept a hold of the cursed creature’s uniform but attempted not shoving the vampire away. His legs were pushed up by the monster claiming him and the cold body between his thighs trembled violently from the warmth Inaho’s body contained.

A sigh escaped the helpless boy’s mouth before he gritted his teeth and closed his burgundy eye to hide as much as he could from the vampire assaulting him. The sight of the cursed Slaine was too much in a situation like this. His body began rocking by the other’s movements as their hips pushed together, and the pain began to increase.

What else was there to do but to grit his teeth and endure this pain? What else was there to do to protect his body from being raped?

‘ _Please! Stop!_ ’ he thought and listened to the monster’s huffs and groans as it ravished him with disgusting greed. Forcefully… Hard… Deeply and cruelly… ‘ _Why? Why did you become like this? This is not you!_ ’

His body burned with pain. It was excruciating and pushed painful gasps and cries from his throat now and then, sometimes tearing at his throat. His muscles tensed up the more pain that was forced on him, and – before long – his limbs began trembling as if he was freezing cold. Adrenaline was pulsating in his veins, making him so anxious it felt as if he was about to lose his mind. A whirring sound assaulted his ears and deafened him. The taste of iron spread in his mouth and the smell of blood became overwhelming despite there was no bleeding.

‘ _Stop… I don’t understand at all._ ’

“I- Aghh! … love you, S-Slaine,” he gasped desperately and strength disappeared from his arm holding the cursed count’s gilded shoulder, and it dropped down next to him on the floor. His head rolled to the side and his mind threatened to shut down. “I’m sorry … I couldn’t save you… If you’re- Ahh…! … angry at me f-for not saving you-”

“SHUT UP!”

The loud yell that echoed in the silent store pulled the brown-haired boy back to the moment and he slowly and weakly turned his face toward the cursed count hovering above him. The sight was perplexing: Slaine slumped in his posture and hung his head. Blond hair brushed Inaho’s nose and cheeks, and it was as soft as he remembered it to be.

“I’m sorr-“ Inaho began again, but Slaine shook his head and something fell down from the cursed count’s cheeks and landed on Inaho’s.

A tear.

And another.

The cursed creature’s shoulders trembled and made his arms shake. Inaho frowned weakly and took a deep breath to collect strength, and then raised his weak hand to brush Slaine’s bangs away from his face. A face crying from desperation emerged from behind the soft hair, and tears stained his pale cheeks. They flowed heavily, and a whimper escaped the cursed count’s lips.

Slaine’s lips…

†††

Why did the brown-haired enemy always make him cry? Why did he affect him this terribly and shook him to a pathetic mess? It was impossible to be strong in front of him. The brunet always managed to knock him off his feet. He detested that.

‘ _Why won’t you hate me?_ ’ the cursed blond thought as Inaho’s words echoed in his mind.

“ _I love you, Slaine. I’m sorry_.”

How was that possible? Everything he had done to the other had been nothing but painful and evil. The cursed count had – as a human – tried to kill him twice; first time by suffocation and the second time by shooting him in the head. The brunet had forgiven him despite Slaine’s objections, and now – as he was raping him – he told him he loved him and asked for forgiveness for not being able to save him.

‘ _You’re mad_ ,’ the cursed blond thought and gritted his teeth in a desperate attempt to bite back his tears. ‘ _You’re insane. How can you say you love me when I do all this to you? Why are you dissociating yourself from something this horrible?! Why won’t you accept that I’m the bad guy you need to fight?! You’re no messiah; instead of turning your other cheek to me, you should hit me back!_ ’

Slaine had thrown himself into this encounter the moment he had noticed the brunet’s orange uniform. He had wanted to hurt him because he was mindlessly jealous – jealous that Inaho had gotten Asseylum’s curse. Suddenly, all of that turned out to be a mistake.

Then why had he been fighting him? For the thrill? For the small bond he had with him? Slaine was strangely obsessive about him; to say he hated him would be a lie, but he also cared little for him.

And then that smile… The smile Slaine had used to urge him to fall into a heated frenzy when being with Lemrina. How mocking it was to realize the smile charged with incredible sexual tension belonged to the brown-haired boy he had been jealous of and been bothered by. It had been a shock so great Slaine’s mind had completely blanked out and nothing but carnal lust had invaded the void that remained after staring at that smile. Then, as the half-human boy had tried to reject his touch, the carnal lust had morphed into greed and aggression that had not allowed him to accept the other’s rejection solely because he was used to get his way with Lemrina.

And now, Orange had tried to reject him again – saying this was not the way he wanted Slaine’s touch. It was so different to the way he did things with Lemrina. She was always demanding his touch even if it would hurt her. She was always accepting his body no matter how he approached her, claiming it to be love. Orange, on the other hand, loved him too, and he was ready to reject him despite that. Somehow, that felt more solid and true than Lemrina’s desperation, and a wave of warmth and gratitude had washed over the starving blond instead: He had been wanted by someone on equal terms. Orange had wanted to hold him without forcing him or blackmailing him into it, and a sense of self-hatred had spread in Slaine’s mind instead for what he was doing to him, realizing he was probably making him regret loving him.

‘ _Then I might as well go all the way and make him hate me_ ,’ he had thought. ‘ _It’s easier that way. Reject me entirely and stop confusing me. I’m a lost cause and I have to stay that way or nothing of what I’m supposed to do will be done._ ’

Instead, to the cursed blond’s surprise, Orange had asked for forgiveness – thinking Slaine’s cruelty was because he was angry at him for not saving him.

‘ _You idiot!_ ’ he thought as his tears ran down his cheeks. ‘ _Why won’t you hate me? Why are you this crazy and selfless no matter what I do to you?_ ’

“Why … do you make me feel like this?” he whispered and lowered his head again.

The other was silent for a while but then a hand caressed the crying creature’s cheek and a weak voice trembled:

“Do you hate it…?”

“I despise it,” Slaine answered and pushed his cheek against Orange’s palm.

“What … is going on?” the boy beneath him asked, and Slaine shook his head once again and let go of the brunet’s shoulders to wipe his tears away.

“You should stop loving me,” the blond whispered and was about to pull out of the brunet and let him go entirely when Orange grabbed the collar to the burgundy uniform and stopped him. Slaine stared at him with pity and lament. “Let go.”

“Isn’t that … something I should decide for myself?” the brunet asked with a tired breath. Slaine blinked from confusion and kept staring at the hurt and exhausted boy beneath him. Orange hesitated for a moment before he then continued, quietly and carefully: “I’ll forgive you … even if you fulfill this rape. If you just want my heat, as long as … you are Slaine, I will give it to you…”

Slaine shook his head with disbelief. How broken was this half-human boy? Why was he so obsessed with Slaine? It was a mystery how the other could so carelessly give his broken body to a monster to be toyed with.

‘ _Will you do anything for me?_ ’

Anger flared in the cursed count’s chest once more, and he took a hold of Orange’s collar and leaned closer – pushing deeper inside the brunet in the process. Orange groaned from pain.

“How much more do I have to hurt you for you to understand that your love is nothing but insanity?” the vampire growled. “Slaine is dead!”

“N-no…” his prey gasped. His expression was warped by the pain. “Y-you’re alive … because you cried…”

Slaine stared at him and felt the flow of his tears increase. Despite he was undead, Orange still thought of him as alive because he cried. A whimper slipped from his throat and the grief made him collapse on top of the boy. The human warmth engulfed him and the racing heart in his enemy’s chest soothed his hunger for humanity. Weakly, the brunet’s unhurt arm coiled around Slaine’s back.

“Finish it,” Orange whispered. “Take my heat. J-just don’t be forceful…”

‘ _Why…? Will you die for my sins too?_ ’

“Inaho…” Slaine whispered back and buried his face in the crook of the other’s neck. “I’m sorry…”

‘ _Why do I apologize?_ ’ he wondered and gritted his teeth again.

“Look at me,” the brunet said quietly and moved his hand from Slaine’s back to the count’s chest and weakly pushed him back. Slaine obeyed his request, and, when his eyes landed on Inaho’s face again, the warm smile filled his view and entranced him. His body responded again and lust washed over him once more. “I forgive you…”

‘ _Idiot!_ ’ Slaine thought and whimpered.

He took a deep breath and then wetted his fingers with saliva to ease up the friction where their bodies were connected, and then – with their gazes locked onto each other’s – Slaine began to slowly move his hips. Inaho frowned and gritted his teeth as the blond carefully pushed into him and then waited for him to adjust slightly. Inaho groaned once Slaine had reached as deep as he would go and then panted for breath. It must have hurt a lot.

It was strange how this all turned out, Slaine thought as he slowly and carefully pulled out. Inaho’s back nearly arched with pain as he did so, but then relaxed before Slaine pushed back in again.

“Ahh…!” he heard the other gasp.

The human heat made the vampire shiver with delight.

“I’m sorry…” the blond whispered and carefully moved his hips. “Inaho…”

“D-don’t ask for- Hahh…!” Inaho’s raspy voice said and Slaine looked at his pained expression.

The blond felt sorry for him. For the first time in his life, he could genuinely feel pity toward someone else than Asseylum and himself. For the first time, he wanted to comfort someone else by holding them without asking for anything back. It was nothing close to what he had done with Lemrina; he had stolen as much as he could from her and giving as little as possible in return. This boy seemed so precious. Once again, Slaine had been thoughtlessly giving in to his own emotions without paying heed to what consequences it would have for those around him, let alone himself.

Slaine leaned closer and kissed the brunet’s soft and warm lips as an apology. They were a little dry from his gasps but the cursed count wetted them with his tongue before he pushed his lips against them again. Inaho tried to answer the vampire’s kisses, but it was obvious the brunet had not kissed others enough to know exactly how to do it. Was this his first time to kiss someone this passionately? Was this his first time to be intimate with someone like this?

‘ _I’m a monster…_ ’ Slaine thought and frowned as he showed the other how he liked to be kissed; their tongues coiled around each other’s and mixed their saliva while they gasped for breath. The human tasted wonderfully. ‘ _Some things never change: You gave me your first kiss a while back, and now I steal your innocence. I can’t seem to give you anything._ ’

“Haahh…! S-Slaine,” Inaho gasped suddenly when the vampire changed the angle of his thrusts, and Slaine pulled back from surprise to look at him. A blush was glowing on the brunet’s cheeks and he seemed more relaxed than before even if he was still obviously in pain; he seemed to feel good somehow. “I-is this fine?”

Slaine dove in for a kiss again and sucked on Inaho’s lower lip before he whispered:

“Plenty. You feel good…”

Once again, he had no idea of what he was doing, but, unlike previously, he somehow had a feeling that – this time – it would be all right to go along with his emotions. Inaho did not reject him, nor did he ask him to stop. Slaine made sure to be careful and grateful for the other’s sacrifice; he made sure to try giving something back to the other as well by being as kind as he could and thrust into him in the angle that seemed to make Inaho feel good.

The tips of their tongues danced together as they tried to meet in a kiss again and, soon, Slaine felt himself lose control and he pushed himself close to Inaho, lying down on him and attacking his lips with greed. The brunet tried to follow him and did so clumsily, but Slaine did not mind the other’s inexperience. The heat and warmth made him shiver with pleasure and he began moving his hips slightly faster. Each time he pushed as deep as he could into the other’s flesh, Inaho let out a surprised groan no matter if they were locked in a kiss or not.

“Mmh…” Slaine moaned and closed his eyes to indulge in the sweet and intoxicating pleasure. He was sharing it with the owner to the hazy smile he had seen in his mind for a couple of months, and that thought alone spurred his heat to increase. “Haahh! Inaho…” he gasped and felt the other’s warm tightness squeeze harder around him as he called his name. The brunet felt more pleasurable than Lemrina had ever done. “Inaho,” he said again and grabbed the brown tousled hair with one hand and placed the other on the back of Inaho’s thigh, and pushed in a little deeper.

It was so warm and soft inside the brown-haired boy his hairs stood on end. It was real warmth – not like the artificial warmth of Lemrina’s body. This felt true and intimate and made Slaine want to be rough with the other, but – since he knew he was much more durable and stronger than Inaho – he held himself back to not break the one he shared this moment with.

“Ahh! S-Slaine…” the brunet gasped and tried to raise his head. The cursed blond allowed him to and felt him push his forehead against Slaine’s shoulder. “C-come with … haahh! … me to- to the…”

“No,” the cursed count immediately answered. He had to strictly establish where they stood in the matter of politics; he had to let Inaho know he could not just leave his position or plan. “Don’t speak about- Aagh! … such things now. Later. Mmh!”

The more Inaho’s body adjusted to Slaine’s size, the more thrilled the cursed young man got. It was strange since he had not cared much about how Lemrina felt when they had had sex, but suddenly he cared a lot about Inaho’s experience with him. He wanted to make it good for him. He wanted to hear and see the other enjoy it, too, and did his utmost to satisfy that curiosity and pleasure.

After a while – when Inaho had loosened up enough to relax – the brunet began writhing and squirming beneath him before he let his head fall back against the floor as he was overcome by pleasure. The blush glowing on his face had spread to the tips of his ears and his voice had become less painful and turned sultry with innocent desire. He gasped with desperate breaths and gripped Slaine’s uniform harder as the cursed count thrust into him, and his thighs hugged Slaine tighter in an attempt to close them. The cursed blond watched his partner’s expression with curiosity and found it attractive – much more attractive than Lemrina’s. The sight and sounds tickled his brain and made his needlelike teeth tingle, but if he let his instincts order him to bite him, Inaho’s reactions would be silenced by his venom.

“Haahhh! I-Inaho…” Slaine gasped and leaned in to kiss him, before he continued, asking: “You … feel good?”

Inaho looked up at him with tears stuck in his eyelashes and smiled gently.

“I- Aagh! I do,” the other answered and then closed his eye again and disappeared into the pleasure.

‘ _We won’t do this again_ ,’ Slaine thought saddened and frowned while he watched Inaho express his pleasure beneath him. ‘ _I can’t keep you, nor can you keep me._ ’

Things were too complicated to just turn his back on them and follow his undead heart. No matter how precious his connection to Inaho had become, he could not forget about Vers.

Somewhere on the line, he had stopped worrying about awaking Asseylum and instead made an active decision to keep her in the unanimated state she had been in for nearly two years now. It was better that way; to keep her asleep and protect her from the horrors he was forced to commit for the sole reason of building something that could easily be broken.

‘ _But I need someone to tear it all down once everything is fragile enough_ ,’ he thought and studied Inaho’s striking countenance with his sorrow deepening. ‘ _Will you be the one to do that? Will you pull me down from my high horse?_ ’

“Ahh! S-Slaine…!” the other gasped.

Inaho seemed to notice something was off with the cursed blond and looked up at him again. His expression changed as a slight frown of worry emerged from seeing the sadness that probably was visible in Slaine’s eyes. Instead, to hide that, the cursed young man leaned down to kiss him again to distract the other even if he knew it was futile. Inaho was probably more attentive than he thought he was, but as long as the other stayed silent throughout this lustful moment, everything would be all right in the end.

‘ _I’m sorry_ …’

†††

Inaho sighed heavily as Slaine released him and gave him room to breathe. His loins still burned with the pleasure that had been released a moment earlier as he had reached a climax he had not expected, and his entire body felt weaker now than before. His limbs were heavy as he tried to tidy himself up while lying down; getting up from the floor was impossible.

“Is your shoulder all right?” he heard the soft voice of Slaine ask while he was adjusting his burgundy uniform.

“It’s … dislocated,” Inaho answered in a daze. He had no energy to even jump from Slaine’s sudden touch as the cursed blond squeezed his shoulder to feel inside it. “AGH!” he exclaimed two seconds later as Slaine gently pulled his arm with a practiced maneuver to relocate the shoulder joint – a maneuver he had probably learned during military training a couple of years ago. Then, the cursed blond continued to help Inaho dress in his uniform again. “Thank you,” the brunet said quietly and let Slaine tidy him up.

The air around Slaine had been pleasant before, but now it was heavy with tension generated by the vampire’s mood. He had probably been thinking about something that had made an impact on his previously gentle frame of mind.

“Your comrades are dying,” he suddenly said as he strapped Inaho’s utility belt around the brunet’s waist. “My men were strategically placed to surround those who entered the city, and the status of the fleet you came with is severely compromised if it has not been eradicated already.”

Inaho stared at him with shock.

“What?” he asked and began to wake up from the strangely addictive feeling of sex with someone dear to him.

“I had thirty-six submarines in wait on the bottom of the sea outside the city,” Slaine explained, and Inaho’s heart began to race once more from fear – fear for his comrades’ lives. The vampire looked at him with sharp eyes to let the brunet know how serious the situation was. “I am not holding back, Inaho Kaizuka. Neither should you. This strange little diversion was a momentary and pleasant change, but it was not meant to change the reality of our situation.”

When Slaine was done strapping all of Inaho’s gear back in place, he pulled the brunet up from the floor with a forceful hand, and the brunet staggered as his legs were still too weak to support him properly.

“Slaine, what are you-?” he began, but was briskly interrupted:

“This is a war, Orange. Be a soldier; do not lose to anyone or Vers will conquer the world.”

This was it?, he wondered. This was all their bond was allowed to express? The moment Inaho had managed to open the door into Slaine’s heart, the blond had been quick to slam it in his face. At first, Inaho’s thoughts were of nothing but hurt for having been rejected this brutally after he had given the other his body and soul, but then he reasoned with those thoughts and concluded that Slaine was right: This was a war. No matter how much they wanted to share their time with the other, their respective situation did not allow them to be together. Slaine had known this and quickly done something about it before it continued to become too painful.

“Slaine,” Inaho said and cradled his hurting arm against his stomach. “You want me to fight you? Is that what you’re saying?”

The cursed creature gritted his teeth before he took a harsh grip of Inaho’s uniform and pulled him along down the alleys until he found duct tape on one of the shelves. He forced Inaho’s arms behind his back and taped them together while Inaho groaned and nearly doubled over from pain in his still tender shoulder. Then, a cloth was tied over his face to rob him of his vision.

“You fought me once and failed. Make sure to never repeat your mistake again, or the world will burn in my name,” Slaine said with a powerful and authoritative tone.

“Why?” the brunet asked as he was being pulled along. It seemed they were getting back out onto the streets. Now that he had the time to listen, he realized the sound from outside had become quieter than before. “What are you going to do?”

Something hit him in his stomach and Inaho doubled over and instantly vomited stomach acid from the impact. Then he was dragged along again, out onto the street where people were crying and moaning from pain and fear. It was clear that UN had lost this battle.

He listened to Slaine order someone to turn the ECM’s off, and a car was soon heard as it approached them.

“My lord,” he heard a man say with relief. “I am glad to see you are unharmed.”

‘ _Who is this?_ ’ Inaho thought and listened to the young man express a relief that gave the brunet a feeling this young man harbored deeper feelings to Slaine than a subordinate should. Jealousy washed over the confused brunet once more.

“What is the condition of the harbor?” Slaine’s voice asked the man, who answered:

“It is damaged but not beyond repair, my lord. The enemy aircraft carrier retreated and the rest of the ships either have sunk or is sinking as we speak. Your tactic was a quick success.”

“And the enemy soldiers in the city?”

“Either dead or captured, my lord.”

“Thank you, Harklight. Drive me to the harbor. I have a gift for our enemy,” Slaine said and someone else’s hands took a hold of the brunet and forced him inside the vehicle before it drove off.

Inaho lay in the back seat and wondered what on earth Slaine was thinking. According to the subordinate’s words – the subordinate that went by the name of Harklight – the UN soldiers were either dead or captured. Deucalion had escaped while the rest of the ships were sinking or had already sunk. Worry washed over the brunet as he wondered what fate Rayet and his friends and sister had faced. Were they still alive? If they were, in what condition were they?

The human side of the war had met a great defeat. They had clearly underestimated Slaine’s hardiness as a tactician. No one had believed he would be daring enough to sacrifice an entire city of great value just to sink a UN fleet. It had been flat out foolhardy, but it had turned out to be effective nonetheless.

They drove for a while until the car came to a stop and the doors opened. Inaho was pulled out of the car and, the moment he gathered his fragmented mind to take in the impressions from his senses, he heard people crying, yelling and begging for their lives further away. The air smelled of something burning.

“Choose ten prisoners – including this one,” Slaine said and seemed to refer to Inaho, who was guided by Slaine’s subordinate. “Put them in one of the landing crafts and let them run. The rest are to be distributed amongst our soldiers during the celebration tonight, and those who survive the night will become blood sacrifices for our officers.”

‘ _He’ll take away the human rights the royal family established a while back, from blood sacrifices?_ ’ Inaho thought shocked as he listened to Slaine’s cold words. ‘ _He’ll restore the previous system where blood sacrifices are nothing but slaves?_ ’

Slaine was determined to be a cruel leader. This was his way of climbing the ladder of hierarchy. He let his soldiers enjoy the spoils of war and rewarded his officers with gifts, directed his tyranny toward Vers’s enemies and did so proudly to insist his way was the correct way to win this war. Leaders like that had met their demise in horrible ways throughout history, and Slaine seemed to be aware of this; he had told Inaho to fight him and not lose to anyone – not even him.

‘ _What are you planning?_ ’ Inaho thought and wanted a chance to speak to the blond again. ‘ _Why are you doing something this fragile to yourself?_ ’

“INAHO!” a shrill voice screamed somewhere, throwing the brunet’s thoughts off track.

“Yuki,” Inaho gasped with shock and relief mixing together.

“Are you all right, Nao?!” she yelled with desperate worry. “Get your hands off him, you cursed demon!” she continued, probably directed at Slaine.

“Silence her,” Slaine ordered someone, but Inaho reacted with violence the moment his sister was in danger.

He shook the blindfold off his eyes to see what was going on, and saw a cursed soldier walk toward Yuki who was wounded on her arms and stomach. She was covered with dirt and her hair was tousled.

Seeing the cursed soldier march toward her, a horrible aggressiveness exploded in him and he shook the subordinate’s hands off his shoulders and was about to dash forward to protect his sister, but the silver-crowned prince was quick to react and grabbed him by his uniform, threw him down to the ground so violently he lost his breath and hit his head, and then kicked him in his stomach to incapacitate him completely.

Inaho groaned and curled up as the pain was excruciating, and he heard his sister release a sudden yelp as she was hit with a strong slap over her cheek. He heard her body hit the ground.

“Y-Yuki…” he gasped and gritted his teeth.

‘ _Why, Slaine?_ ’

Strong hands pulled him up from the ground and he met Slaine’s cold eyes. The cursed count forced him to stand in front of him and, as they stared at each other for a while, Inaho saw his eyes soften and turn sorrowful.

“I’m sorry…” Slaine worded silently and held back the tears that threatened to form in his eyes. He closed his eyes with a heavy frown and then threw Inaho to the crowd of human prisoners. Inaho rolled over the ground and landed in front of his sister, who quickly groveled up from the dusty asphalt to hold him. He lay limply in her arms and met her crying gaze while Slaine’s strong voice was heard in the background: “Those two will be released, and include that cursed girl as well since we have no need of her.”

“Rayet…?” Inaho whispered and took a deep breath. He was so exhausted his voice was barely audible.

“She’s alive,” Yuki answered with a quivering voice. “She’s badly wounded, but she fought bravely when looking for you.”

Inaho took a deep breath and closed his eye to rest, and, soon, they were moved to one of the landing crafts that had survived the attack along with the other seven people that were allowed to run away from this hell. The engines started and the landing craft began moving, and within moments the burning city disappeared and the acrid smell of war was replaced by the fresh sea breeze.

As Inaho lay there in Yuki’s comforting arms, he thought back to what had happened in the shopping complex and what Slaine had told him. This cold side of Slaine was nothing but an act. Inaho was sure of it. He was also sure that Slaine had no true wish to be a ruler of the cursed nation, and he had released Inaho along with Rayet and Yuki with ulterior motives behind his decision.

‘ _You want me to fight you and stop you_ ,’ the brunet thought and clenched his hand to a fist of determination. ‘ _Then I will fight you on your terms, and I will save you no matter what hell you and I have to crawl through_.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What I was thinking when writing this: "Slaine, you damn a-hole... Inaho, you idiot!" LOL!


	32. The Turning Wheel – Dawn of Intrigue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay again! Gosh, it's getting more and more difficult to write these chapters! (@___@) I hope you enjoy!

Everywhere on the streets, cursed creatures were still celebrating. Everywhere on the streets, the captured humans were still crying, yelling curses and screaming. It was early in the morning with the sun still hiding behind the horizon; several hours after he had watched the landing craft disappear into the horizon with the brown-haired boy.

It was difficult for him to digest what had happened and he felt like he had committed the worst crime in decades of modern history. Not only had he killed thousands of UN soldiers, but he had also trespassed on someone’s body in an attempt to torture them.

He could still hear Orange’s painful gasps and pitiful words of forgiveness for something Slaine did not blame him for. He could still feel the warmth of his flesh engulf him and give him pleasure only a human could give. Guilt weighed down his shoulders but some kind of joy made his steps light as he walked down a corridor in the Versailles Hotel at the beginning of Vladivostok’s main street, Svetlanskaya.

It was a robust and beautiful structure in German art nouveau style – the oldest in the city – and had served as Saazbaum’s and his officers’ private quarters. Now, the corridors and rooms of the building belonged to the late cursed count’s successor, and Slaine was determinedly walking toward the room with his dearest sleeping princess. His steps echoed as he walked on the polished stone floor, and chandeliers lit up his way among expensive oil paintings and golden trims.

The night had been filled with exhausted work. He had held a commemorative speech, given his soldiers the right to celebrate and enjoy the spoils of war – the new and captured blood sacrifices – and checked the damages of the brief battle; all the submarines had survived and the Versian casualties were to minimum. The element of surprise had been incredibly effective. During the oncoming night after the celebrations, the repairs of the city and harbor would be put to motion.

Both of the royal princesses had been heavily guarded in bunkers outside the city and had now been moved to the hotel. Lemrina was being cared for by Harklight while Eddelrittuo had done according to Slaine’s orders and moved the sleeping cursed princess into her new room until Slaine’s Troyard and Saazbaum Fleets would return.

‘ _Saazbaum was right_ ,’ he thought as he walked up to the door leading into the room where Asseylum was hidden. ‘ _I’m carrying Asseylum around in a coffin disguised as a trunk. How disrespectful and distasteful of me…_ ’

He unlocked the door and stepped inside the room where a dim light casted a golden hue on the walls, floor and ceiling. On the bed lay the sleeping cursed princess and the handmaiden was gently brushing through her hair before looking up at Slaine.

“My lord,” she said and looked at him with relief. “I am glad you are safe and sound. Your clothes, however…” she said and looked at the cursed count’s dusty and disheveled uniform.

Slaine had not bothered to change his clothes yet, mostly since he had been too busy to notice the dust and dirt on his burgundy garments.

“I will take a shower and change soon. I simply wanted to check up on Princess Asseylum before I do anything else. How is Lemrina?” he wondered and walked up to the sleeping cursed girl and looked at her emotionless expression.

“She is unharmed and well, my lord,” Eddelrittuo answered. “Harklight is taking care of her as we-“

The petite girl’s voice was interrupted immediately as she seemed to notice something, and her eyes widened with shock when some kind of realization hit her. Slaine stared at her, feeling perplexed of her unusual reaction, but soon learned what the handmaiden had reacted to:

“K-Kaizuka … Inaho…”she mumbled and raised her hands to cover her small mouth. “His scent… It is on you,” she continued and shook her head slightly. “Why?”

Ah… Of course she recognized the scent; she was the only one else in Vers except Slaine and Asseylum who did. Slaine had forgotten that humans shared their scents with each other when sharing their bodies, and he had also forgotten that vampires had a strong sense of smell. Did she understand what had happened to some degree by the nature of the scent?

“He was here in the city,” Slaine said frankly. “I met him and I sent him away.”

“M-met him? Sent him away? My lord?” she asked and looked somewhat distressed. Slaine got a bad feeling since it was clear she had some kind of relationship to the brunet. “Is he all right?” she then asked.

Eddelrittuo usually knew her place as a handmaiden and never asked about things she had no business with, but, this time, she took the liberty to ask about Inaho Kaizuka. She was worried for him, which made Slaine feel threatened by the label she probably would put on him for fighting against the boy she cared for in some kind of way. She had never spoken about him during the nearly two years she had been serving Slaine and Lemrina, which made the cursed blond worried she would cause trouble.

“He is all right; a little damaged, but he will come around soon enough. Once he does, I believe Vers will have a worthy enemy,” he decided to explain and sighed quietly: “ _I_ will have a worthy enemy…”

“Damaged, sir?” she asked and wore a look of distress on her childlike face.

The moment Slaine threw a harsh glance at her to silence her she cowered and took a step back. Eddelrittuo stared at him with a terrified expression and knitted her hands together in front of her chest the way she always did when she felt nervous. She wanted to question Slaine, the expression she whore said so clearly, but she also knew her place and refrained from doing so.

‘ _Don’t argue with me_ ,’ Slaine thought troubled; it felt as if he was losing her trust.

†††

A week had passed in the hospital ward on board the damaged Deucalion. The ship was moored to a dock in Hong Kong, southern China, which was still under the humans’ rule. The hammers and drills were heard throughout the ship as workers were busy repairing the damages the Versian submarines had done. The ship had been hit by torpedoes, but none of them had made damage that had would have gone out of control. A ship in a dry dock was being prepared to give place to Deucalion so her hull could be repaired as well. They would be in Hong Kong for at least a month.

Inaho lay in the hospital ward, staring at the ceiling while he went through the encounter with Slaine a week ago. A lot of things had been concluded during that week, and – to be sure he was on the right track – he analyzed the conclusions over and over again until he could not analyze them anymore.

‘ _Slaine is still Slaine in a sense. The young boy Seylum spoke about has grown up, which makes Slaine different to the one she knew. Slaine is keeping her a secret from the people under the premise that she’s dead, and he has decided to change Vers. Right now, he’s slowly taking over the nation, and, according to his speeches, he is gaining the other counts’ favor_ ,’ he thought and closed his eye to take a deep breath. He frowned. ‘ _However, he isn’t sincere about becoming a true ruler of any kind; he wants someone to fight him and eventually win. But why?_ ’

“Nao?” he heard his sister’s voice from the door. He had not heard her coming since he had been too enveloped by his thoughts. “How are you feeling?”

Inaho turned to look at her. Her arms were still covered with bandages and so was probably her torso as well. She had luckily only been lightly wounded after an encounter with a couple of cursed soldiers in Vladivostok, but she had just recently been discharged from the hospital ward due to great blood loss after two vampires had been feeding on her. Angry red bite marks still shone on her neck.

After Inaho had been taken to the hospital ward once they had found back to Deucalion, he had been stripped entirely for a complete physical exam due to his injuries, and fractures on two ribs had been found as well as a swelling in his shoulder where the joint had been dislocated. What had also been revealed was the rape, and Inaho had told the doctor to keep quiet about it and not let anyone – not even Inaho’s superiors – know. He knew a male rape was highly controversial since – according to the norm – men could not be rape victims, and he had taken advantage of that and lied that it would hurt his pride if others learned about it, and that he wished to protect his integrity. The doctor had tried to argue against it and told him it was his duty to let those in charge of him know about it, but he had finally given up and suggested Inaho to see a psychologist instead – Dr. Yagarai to be exact. Inaho had agreed to that.

Yuki did not know what had happened to him either.

“I feel fine. I should be allowed out of here any day now,” the brunet told her and looked at her. “My ribs don’t hurt as much because of the anesthetics and my shoulder is quite fine, too. My body just has to regain its normal oxygenation.”

His sister sighed with relief and smiled.

“I’m glad to hear that. Even though I visit you every day I still worry like crazy,” she said and sat down on a chair next to Inaho. “You should stop being a soldier, Nao…”

“How are you feeling?” the brunet asked as he decided to ignore her last comment, and looked at her while he waited for her answer.

She sat nearly exact where she had been sitting when Inaho had woken up after nearly dying about two years ago. Back then, she had sat on a chair to his left, just like now, and slept. The newly awoken Inaho had worried she had been cold and tried to cover her with the blanket hanging over her knees before she had woken up and found him awake.

‘ _Your behavior follows a pattern_ ,’ he thought as he heard his sister answer:

“Well, everything’s fine, I guess. I’m still shaken from being eaten alive and I dream nightmares about it, but other than that I’m fine. My wounds are healing properly.” She then slumped with her back against the backrest and sighed with a worried frown. “I’m bringing news, by the way. Orders to be exact,” she continued and took a deep breath. She clearly did not like the orders she carried. “Our captain wants you to interrogate the prisoner; that Mazuurek guy. She thinks you are qualified for that job since you’re cursed as well and are more attentive than normal humans and even Rayet due to your generation.”

Immediately, hearing that gave Inaho’s thoughts a new spin as he understood he had been dealt a trump card. Quickly, he considered his options on how to use the cursed count starving in the prison on board. The enemy clearly had some important information about the inside of Vers and had insight in what Slaine was doing. Could Inaho use Mazuurek somehow to help him save Slaine? It all depended on how the cursed count viewed Slaine; did he see him as an enemy, rival or ally?

It was a golden opportunity either way.

“When will I do that?” the brunet asked with renewed energy, and his sister noticed his excitement and frowned with worry before answering:

“In two days. The cursed count will be fed today, so you won’t be allowed in there until he’s weak from hunger again.”

‘ _Perfect. Then I have time to figure out what to say to him and consider what options I have at hand_ ,’ he thought excitedly. ‘ _I’m on your tail, Slaine._ ’

†††

“How many?” Slaine asked and stared at the images taken of the waters outside Vladivostok right after the battle eight days ago.

A couple of sinking and burning ships were depicted on the photographs.

“We have approximated the enemy death count to roughly seventeen-thousand humans, sir,” Harklight said while holding the report papers in hand.

Slaine felt conflicted about the news and frowned while his gaze jumped from photograph to photograph. He sighed and frowned deeply as he saw people in the water around a burning amphibious assault ship on one photograph.

They stood in the grandeur Admiral’s quarters on board Tharsis that had returned from Japan with the rest of the Troyard and Saazbaum Fleets. It was a luxurious room with walls in the same red color as the Versian flag, and the portholes were draped with heavy curtains in the same color where golden tie-backs decorated them with classic tassels swaying gently to the rocking of the ship as a storm had picked up in strength.

The room was fit to receive a world leader and entertain them. It had a parquet floor of fine wood and heavy carpets lay beneath the desk and a conference table, where eight chairs made of solid mahogany and soft cushions neatly surrounded the cloth-covered table. Slaine’s desk – made with the same wood as the chairs and conference table – stood between them, on which a Versian flag hung in a small flagpole with a golden tip.

Opposite of Slaine’s desk stood a couch made with fine dark leather and heavy wood. To the left of it a large bookcase towered up to the ceiling, from where a brass chandelier hung with six arms and cast a bright light over the office.

So many times that Slaine had woken up on that leather couch after Cruhteo had fed on him. Sometimes the cursed count had taken enough blood to have the boy fall asleep for a couple of hours, and when Slaine had woken up he had been resting his cheek against the leather for so long it had been glued to it as the couch had been absorbing the moisture of his skin. It was ironic how this room now belonged to Slaine. This was the same office where he had defied Cruhteo right after the beginning of the war and drugged him with tainted blood. The cursed man had pinned him against the desk standing before the young vampire now with the intention of murdering him.

“Seventeen-thousand murders in less than an hour,” Slaine said quietly to answer to his servant’s report. He got a bad taste in his mouth, mixed with guilt from the high numbers and the reminder of what had happened in this room when he had been a blood sacrifice. “All souls killed under my orders…”

“My lord?” Harklight asked and Slaine saw him stare at the blond young count with a worried look on his healthy glowing face.

The cursed count shook his head and straightened his back to stand proudly even though his shoulders wished to slump.

“That is good, Harklight,” he said with a stronger voice. “Seventeen-thousand kills are seventeen-thousand new reasons to fight against me. How many new blood sacrifices did we capture?”

“About two-thousand, my lord,” Harklight answered again – as professionally as ever. “One-thousand-two-hundred remain alive, sir.”

Slaine nodded and felt guilt weigh on his shoulders again. He began to feel nauseous from the numbers.

“ _Nineteen_ -thousand new reasons to fight me…” he mumbled.

“Are you sure about this, my lord?” his manservant asked, and Slaine turned to look at the young man’s worried expression.

Their eyes met and locked their gazes together.

Slaine knew what the blood sacrifice was hinting at. Harklight disliked the plan Slaine had developed of building a nation with a new system that would look out for its citizens in the royal family’s name, and – once Slaine had succeeded – he needed someone to fight him and win, wake the sleeping princess and have her take over the throne. That someone – he hoped – would be Inaho Kaizuka.

Slaine was – in every official speech he made – building up an ideal picture of Asseylum to idolize her and let the people know she would have been a great ruler had she gotten the chance. This way, he used something nostalgic and precious to win the trust of the people and nobles. Then he would clean the nobility of those who showed any form of resistance toward Asseylum, surround himself with those who supported her image, and – when the time would come – let the brown-haired boy drag him down.

‘ _What a farfetched plan_ ,’ he admitted as he stared at his manservant. ‘ _How cruel of me, as well. Inaho and Asseylum, Eddelrittuo, Lemrina and Harklight are all victims to this desperate plan_.’

“I am very sure, Harklight,” Slaine said and watched the blood sacrifice lower his gaze and clench his hand into a fist.

‘ _I’m sorry; I know you don’t want to see me die but I can’t care about what you want_ ,’ the young vampire thought.

“Forgive me for speaking this openly, but I feel I have to voice my opinion,” Harklight said carefully. “You are building a great nation. I truly believe you would do a fine job as a ruler of this new Vers.”

Slaine shook his head and smiled while he kept looking at his servant.

‘ _No, you don’t know me at all_ ,’ the cursed blond thought.

“You are wrong, Harklight,” he said quietly. “It is easy to destroy a world, but much harder to build one. I have never been good at building things and I believe it should be left to those who know how to. Asseylum has much more experience of a ruler than I since she has been a princess for decades. I barely know how to build a relationship with someone; how can I ever build a nation? I have to accept my limits.”

“But my lord-!” the blood sacrifice began with a dismayed look on his face.

“Besides,” Slaine interrupted him. “My main goal with this war is to have it end in peace between humans and cursed. Since I founded and now operate this war based on hate, I cannot suddenly tell the cursed to put down their weapons and calm their hunger. Asseylum, however, with her awakening and knowledge, will be able to reason with the crowds and guide them away from my insanity of war. I am sure of that.”

‘ _It is said a devil loves unspoken secrets, especially those that fester in a man’s soul_ ,’ he thought as he watched Harklight sigh and nod in defeat. ‘ _My soul will be completely rotten by the time peace will knock on the door_.’

“I understand, my lord,” the human young man said quietly. “Forgive me for speaking out of place.”

Slaine felt sorry for the young man. Harklight was still naïve in a sense despite his inner drive that made him exceed himself time and time again. He was quick to learn and would soon be ready to take command as an officer, and he would use his power well. However, he blindly believed in a beautiful monster simply because he had been deceived by the monster’s appearance and fallen in love with it; a monster that could only measure success according to the damage and destruction it had done.

‘ _Eddelrittuo has begun to realize what a monster I am and is slowly distancing herself from me, and Lemrina cannot be trusted. I have no one else but you_ ,’ Slaine thought and stared anxiously at the downhearted Harklight. Each time Slaine was reminded about the power he held and the future evils he had to commit, it felt like he lost his footing completely. He was soon nineteen years old; barely a grownup and still a teenager with little knowledge about anything – let alone warfare and how to rule a nation. All he could rely on was Saazbaum’s teachings and his own gut-feeling, and hope it turned out all right. ‘ _I know I have no right to ask for your kindness to comfort me, but I cannot deny I’m terrified of what I’m doing. I need someone to be there for me. I need someone to support me no matter what happens, or else I’ll succumb to my fear as a child_.’

“Harklight…” Slaine said barely audibly and rounded the desk between them and walked up to the young man, who looked up at the cursed count with an expression telling the cursed count he was ready to serve. “This might seem like a straightforward question, but do you love me?” the cursed blond then asked, and Harklight frowned deeply.

Slaine took a step closer to look up at the dark eyes of the blood sacrifice, and peered deep into them while Harklight’s breaths caressed his cheeks and lips. He could see the details of the young man’s irises and saw his pupils dilate the longer he looked at the cursed young man looking back at him.

“M-my lord?” Harklight stammered and was about to take a step back when Slaine grabbed a hold of his belt around his waist and pulled him back.

‘ _You do…_ ’ Slaine thought and felt the monster rage inside him, chasing away his morals to open up yet another destructive path. ‘ _I can’t let you turn on me. Don’t doubt or question me. Just stay with me since I have no one else I can trust_.’

He had to snare him in order to guarantee Harklight would not hesitate to stand by Slaine’s side. Even if it felt wrong – perhaps even bad – the cursed blond needed to cling to someone at times. Lemrina’s artificial heat had stopped comforting him after what he had done with the enemy boy in the shopping mall; he had days earlier tried to find comfort from the cursed princess like he had always done, but he had quickly discovered she had lost all of the sexual appeal she had harbored for him. Only once had he touched her since the battle in Vladivostok, and it had been a brief attempt to fall back onto old routines. It had not worked.

“ _Your attachments to others are warped; you seek out comfort from anyone you can find; anyone will do_ ,” Eddelrittuo had told him about a month ago before Saazbaum’s death. “ _Once you have drained them from comfort, you turn your back on them and become cold and dismissal as if you want to keep them at distance._ ”

‘ _I’m a leech_ ,’ the young vampire thought as he heard the little handmaiden’s words echo powerfully in his mind while he found himself looking at Harklight with a soft gaze.

“ _You always do that with people; you use them and toss them away_.”

‘ _Lemrina has been thrown away_ ,’ he thought and raised a hand to Harklight’s neck. The young man’s warmth nearly scorched the undead being with human heat. ‘ _But I cannot throw you away_.’

“Do I still excite you after everything I have done thus far?” the vampire asked quietly and noticed his manservant trembling from nervousness. “What would you say if I ask you to act it out on me? What would you do to me?” the cursed blond continued, deliberately coaxing the human young man to fall into his trap.

“I…” Harklight said with stress in his voice. “I would never even dream to-“ He took a deep breath. “To touch you indecently, my lord.”

“But if I asked you to?” Slaine urged quietly and caressed the scarred skin on Harklight’s neck. The bite wounds had made his skin rough, but not as rough as Slaine’s. Perhaps the young blood sacrifice had been treated with care compared to Slaine when he had been a blood sacrifice on board Cruhteo’s fleet. “If I give you free reign by offering you this cold body of mine, would you warm it up?” the vampire then whispered with a pleading tone. “You have held me each time we have bathed in a sauna, completely naked with me, and now you speak about indecent touch?”

Harklight frowned and looked as if he was about to panic.

“That was completely different, my lord. Forgive me, but I cannot allow myself to defile your highness like that,” his blood sacrifice said with a tremble.

‘ _It’s too late_ ,’ Slaine thought and lowered his hand from the young man’s neck and took a hold of his hand and raised it to his cheek to feel his warmth. Harklight’s palm was moist from cold sweat. ‘ _I won’t take no for an answer_.’

“I fear I will be the one to defile you,” the vampire whispered and pushed his lips against Harklight’s wrist and sunk his needlelike fangs through his skin.

“M-my lord-!” the servant exclaimed as he understood what Slaine was about to do, but then slumped from the cursed venom affecting him.

The vampire released the young man’s wrist and caught the blood sacrifice as he collapsed, and held him preciously. The warmth felt just like Inaho’s, Slaine remembered, and he shivered with delight. He closed his eyes and thought back to the moment when he had understood the hazy smile had been Inaho’s all along, and felt his body respond.

‘ _Inaho…_ ’ he thought while holding Harklight, caressing the weak blood sacrifice through his hair. ‘ _Next time we meet will probably be the moment when you kill me. Until then, I shall enjoy your smile_.’

He turned his cheek to push it against Harklight’s and whispered into the young man’s ear:

“I want you to show me how much you desire me, Harklight.” The servant’s body tensed up at the order. “Do to me what you fantasize about doing to me. There is no need to hold yourself back.”

In a dazed state, Harklight took a hold of Slaine’s arms and weakly pushed his body up to stand. Hands buried in Slaine’s hair and gripped it tightly but lovingly, and the man’s warm lips covered the vampire’s. A hot tongue invaded the cursed count’s mouth and sought to play with his, and Slaine obeyed Harklight’s gentle request and rubbed his tongue against his and mixed their saliva in the process. It was so warm and nice, just like the time he had done this with Inaho, and Slaine released a pleased sigh and took a hold of Harklight’s hips to pull the man close:

“Mmh…”

Surprisingly, Harklight’s kisses were gentle and slow. If Slaine was to describe them with one single word, he would call his kisses romantic. It was a desire he was completely inexperienced with, since all of Slaine’s desires were chaotic and hungry and nothing like this. Harklight seemed to want to enjoy the moment of kissing rather than hurrying to satisfy his carnal lusts as soon as possible. It made Slaine restless since he was not used to this kind of foreplay.

‘ _Let him use you_ ,’ he told himself and decided to play along and let Harklight fulfill his fantasy. ‘ _This is what he wants; don’t deny him this_.’

Slaine released a sultry huff as Harklight’s warmth made him shiver while they kissed. He was allowed to relax entirely in the servant’s gentle hands that held him tenderly, and they kissed for a while before the young man began to wake up from the venom’s effect.

As he realized what he was doing and a horrified frown showed on his face, Slaine took a hold of his uniform to hold him close and prevent him from pulling back. It would feel awfully cold if Harklight released him entirely now.

“M-my lord!” Harklight exclaimed with a face flushing red. “F-forgive me for-!”

“Schh…” Slaine hushed and smiled gently. “The fault is mine,” he continued with a gentle whisper. “Please, keep going. I take full responsibility, so worry not.”

“But sir,” Harklight argued. “This kind of activity does not suit a servant and an admiral,” he said worried but licked his wet lips as if to taste the remains of Slaine’s saliva on them.

Slaine continued smiling and had one hand on Harklight’s belt to ensure the other would not back away from him, while he used the other to heave himself onto the desk. Then, he pulled the servant close between his legs.

“I cannot find a single reason to agree with you,” the vampire said and looked his servant in the eyes. “You cannot hurt me like this, nor can you defile me with your touch. I want it. I even crave letting you touch me the way you secretly want to. The one defiling another is me,” he whispered and caressed Harklight’s cheek and brushed his lips with a careful thumb. “I am the cruel one here for stealing your innocence like this.”

Harklight shivered at Slaine’s touch and sucked in a sharp breath as the cursed count caressed his lips again.

“But a man … doing this to another,” he mumbled.

‘ _Does he really not want to?_ ’ the cursed blond wondered worriedly.

“Do not bother with thoughts like that,” Slaine purred softly and let his fingertips play with Harklight’s belt buckle in an attempt to test the man’s resolve one last time. “There is nothing dirty in two males doing something like this.” His gentle smile became coy before he frowned with an apology as he noticed Harklight’s expression show a conflict was raging in his mind. Perhaps he had been wrong about Harklight’s feelings after all and been too self-conscious and conceited? “But if you truly wish not to keep doing this, I shall take a step back and not bother you like this again. Perhaps I ask more of you than you can give, and if so, I am deeply regretful for putting you through this.”

They stared at each other for a while. The blood sacrifice’s expression told Slaine he was acutely troubled by what had happened. Neither of them said a word to each other, and – once Slaine had concluded Harklight probably was an impossible target for his carnal greed – the cursed blond sighed and lowered his head with shame.

“Forgive me,” he said and pulled his hand away from the other. “I jumped to conclusions that put you in a cruel situation.”

‘ _I can’t force him_.’

Harklight did not move from where he stood between Slaine’s thighs and the cursed blond could feel his watchful gaze burn against his skin. His hands resting on either side of his hips squeezed into fists and then opened, squeezed closed again and opened as if he was hesitating to use them while he was busy fighting a silent battle.

Slaine looked up at him from confusion and saw the longing look in the man’s eyes.

“Harklight?” he asked and watched the blood sacrifice close his eyes while the deep frown was playing on his expression.

‘ _Does he want to but is scared to do anything?_ ’ the blond thought with warped hope rekindling in his undead heart.

“It is fine,” he continued and studied Harklight’s expression. “You are allowed to do whatever you want. I will not mind if you want me to receive you. I can even take command.”

Oh, how pitiful his begs were. It made him resent himself for suddenly becoming this desperate for the man before him to touch him. Why was he obsessed in carnal pleasure like this?

‘ _It’s my only coping strategy_ ,’ he concluded and slowly raised a hand to Harklight’s belt buckle again. Carefully and gently, he began undoing it while watching the servant’s troubled expression. ‘ _I’m sorry to put you in a situation like this…_ ’

It surprised him he was still capable of feeling sorry for others for things he did to them, and he briefly wondered when he would stop caring all together. Before that thought had properly developed in his mind, he anxiously pushed it away and pulled the blood sacrifice’s belt open and slowly continued to open the golden buttons on his navy-blue uniform.

“My lord…” the man in front of him said with a quivering breath. “Is- Is this … all right?”

Slaine blinked and stared at him for a short moment at hearing the man give in to lust, before he smiled gently and nodded.

“Of course,” he answered and continued opening the buttons on Harklight’s uniform with slightly more confident fingers. “It is perfectly all right. Tell me what you want me to do. Treat me the way you have fantasized about.” As the servant’s uniform had been unbuttoned, Slaine took a hold of Harklight’s hands and raised them to his waist. “Try squeezing me a little,” the vampire then whispered, and when Harklight’s fingers tightened around his waist Slaine released a hot gasp, and asked with a coy smile: “Where do you want to put your hands next?”

The blood sacrifice gritted his teeth and finally gave in to his own lustful wishes: He raised his hands from Slaine’s waist and caressed the cursed blond’s ribs through the burgundy uniform. Slaine leaned slightly back to let the young man see what he was doing to him, and sighed at the pleasant touch. Harklight then carefully caressed Slaine over his chest and up to his shoulders. From there the hands moved to his neck and up behind his jaw, beneath his ear, and pulled the cursed count closer until his lips touched the others and was lured into a gentle and soft kiss.

Again, his kisses were so romantic Slaine was unsure of what to do other than relax his jaw and tongue and rub it against the young man’s. He accepted him without pushing it and let Harklight slowly get used to the touch. In the meantime, Slaine enjoyed the other’s warmth and found his taste pleasant enough to make him patient while Inaho’s smile flickered in his mind.

“Mmh…” he sighed once again and hooked his legs around Harklight’s to pull the man closer as his body responded to Inaho’s smile. Then he raised his hands to the servant’s trousers and pulled at the lining just a little to show him he wanted to advance. “Aah… Harklight…” he moaned when they changed the angle of their kiss.

“Slaine…” the other answered breathlessly and deepened their kiss and careful fingers began to unbutton Slaine’s uniform.

To hear a man’s voice call his name like this thrilled him. It was completely different to how he perceived Lemrina’s voice when it was drunk with lust. Inaho’s voice was not as deep as Harklight’s, but it had been just as thrilling.

When his uniform was pushed open and the shirt beneath it had been unbuttoned, Harklight pushed Slaine’s undershirt up and revealed the scars that covered his abdomen. The young man continued unbuttoning the cursed count’s pants, and Slaine followed his example to release Harklight’s heat.

As a warm hand enveloped his hardened passion, Slaine felt his body go weak and he slumped back against the desk and released a shocked moan:

“Ahh! S-so warm…!”

“Slaine…” the other gasped and kissed a scar on the vampire’s pale skin, right beneath his navel. The vampire jumped from the sudden peck from warm lips. “Slaine…”

The warm hand rubbed his flesh up and down, gently squeezing it to make it feel good. Slaine could only gasp and moan at the feeling, since the warmth was intoxicating him and muddling his mind. At this point, he honestly did not care what the servant decided to do to him. He simply wanted more.

Harklight then released the flesh and proceeded to remove Slaine’s boots and pants with practiced hands and then carefully spread the cursed blond’s legs some more to get better access. He apologized while caressing Slaine’s thighs with warm hands and then wetted one of his fingers with saliva and rubbed it against Slaine’s opening. The vampire’s body flared with lust and the anticipation drove him mad. He wanted to claw at the other and pull him closer and bite into his neck, but he held the animal back to let the servant take what he had longed for, for a long time.

The tip of the finger finally coaxed its way inside and pushed deeper, and the warmth that filled him made Slaine finally snap.

“Aahh!” he gasped and reached down between his legs to take a hold of Harklight’s hand. “You … don’t have to wait… J-just do it…” he begged breathlessly and pushed his hips against the young man’s hand to deepen the penetration. “Please…!”

“But without preparation-“ the servant began, but Slaine shook his head and interrupted him.

“I don’t care,” he shouted pitifully. “Even if it hurts … the warmth… Ahhh!”

Harklight had finally pushed in deeper with his finger and took Slaine by surprise. The cursed count threw his head back and felt his body tense up. Then the finger was pulled out and then pushed back in, and Slaine gasped desperately from the scorching warmth that spread inside him from Harklight’s flesh.

The servant repeated it a couple of times before understanding Slaine gave the pain no heed, and complied with the cursed count’s silent begs and pulled his finger out.

“N-no…!” Slaine moaned as the pleasurable sensation disappeared, and raised his head to look at what Harklight was doing. As he saw him reveal his hardened flesh, Slaine’s mind blanked from sudden relief and joy, and a smile spread on the vampire’s lips. “H-hurry…! I need your warmth.”

The blood sacrifice took a gentle hold of Slaine’s hips and pulled the cursed count closer to ease his access, and then – with great hesitation – pushed the hot tip of his heated flesh against the soft bud between Slaine’s buttocks. The heat from it made Slaine’s mind spin some more and he pulled the other closer with his legs behind the servant’s back.

“Slaine… Forgive me if this will hurt,” Harklight gasped with a heavy blush on his cheeks. His pupils were large from lust and his breaths were hot as he leaned closer to give Slaine a kiss as he put more force behind his hips to push into the young vampire’s flesh. “Ohh…!”

“AHH!” the cursed blond exclaimed as he felt the tip of Harklight’s flesh push into him. It felt tight and it hurt, but he did not care. The human heat burned inside him and made him drunk from delight. “C-come … deeper… Mmmh!”

Harklight’s hands buried in his soft and pale hair to kiss him passionately, and Slaine succumbed to his warmth and gentle touch.

†††

Calm steps walked down the painted white steel floor. Soldiers stood in front of a door toward which he was headed, and they stepped aside to let him through since they had been expecting him. With a gentle momentum, to not push his broken ribs and hurting shoulder too much, Inaho opened the door into the brig and listened to the sounds before walking deeper inside. No other sound than the hammering, drilling and other noises of workers were heard; they bounced around through the ventilation system aboard the ship. Bright lights shone in the ceiling, probably to cause discomfort for the prisoner and keep him at bay by forcing him to hide deep inside the cell he was confined in. As the brunet determined the prisoner was lying still in his cell, Inaho walked deeper into the brig. Heavy dark shadows were cast where he walked beneath the luminescent lights and cast an eerie atmosphere in the sealed area with strong contrasts with lights and shadows.

He stopped in front of cell four. It was the only occupied cell since UN had not had a reason to keep prisoners until now. There, in the deep shadows, he saw the exhausted and starving cursed count lie on the bunk bed. He lay with his back against the bars to the cell and huddled to protect himself from the cold air and bright lights in the corridor outside.

‘ _Will this work?_ ’ he thought before he took one of the chairs left by the guards and moved it in front of the cell to sit down on it, and said:

“Count Mazuurek.” The vampire gave no reaction. “How are you feeling?” No answer. “They have been starving you for a while now with insufficient amount of blood, I assume?”

He had to keep talking to spark a reaction in the other. Irritation was better than nothing the brunet thought, since it would open up a conversation even if it was due to agitation. To insult someone’s integrity and interpret their situation for them and take their words from their thoughts and mouth usually sparked an aggressive reaction, since no one liked to be told how they felt by someone they had no connection to. A poor wiseacre, Inaho thought it was called. Since the usual interrogation had not given results, he had fallen onto this kind of tactic instead to make the other talk.

“It seems you’re not too keen to speaking. The captain told me you’ve been persistently silent.” Again, there was no reaction. Inaho thought for a while before he decided to continue annoying the vampire by citing things he figured would amp up the moment of irritation some more: “Silence it unhealthy when you’re suffering. My psychologist told me that once I woke up as a half-cursed creature. I remember she spoke about suffering from a nursing theory based on existentialism. Have you heard of it? I think it was someone called Travelbee who developed that theory,” Inaho said and watched the cursed creature that lay completely still.

‘ _He will be a persistent prisoner_ ,’ the brunet concluded as the cursed count did not even move.

He decided to continue:

“According to Travelbee’s nursing theory, suffering is a fundamental part of being a human. A human is – according to the theory – a unique and irreplaceable being that exists once on this world, and only once, and is like and unlike anyone who has lived or will come to live. Since you are a cursed creature, perhaps the human concept doesn’t really suit you, but I still believe you’re a creature prone to suffering like a human does, but under slightly different conditions of course,” he said and ransacked his brain for the information his psychologist had told him back at the research facility. “I believe you’re starving; weak and exhausted. I also believe you’re freezing and therefore in pain, since you are a cursed creature who is sensitive to cold, and these bright lights probably hurt your eyes. On top of that, I believe you want to go back home to your social network and living quarters and usual routines.” Inaho stopped and watched the cursed creature. He had not managed to tick him off yet. “In other words, you’re going through physical, emotional and spiritual suffering.”

There was a small movement in the cell; Mazuurek squeezed his arms closer to his torso, barely visibly though.

‘ _Is it working?_ ’ the brunet wondered.

Quickly, he continued:

“Do you know why you’re suffering?” Inaho wondered, but there was no answer. “Travelbee said that suffering is closely related to things you treasure, such as your own wellbeing either physically, emotionally or spiritually, or all at once. You long for blood and a warm room, and I’m sure you long for those you care about and enjoy to be around. No one really likes to be in an environment they’re not used to, and especially not in an environment where they’re especially vulnerable, like a brig on an enemy ship,” the brunet continued. “Travelbee also said that a caregiver should never look at two different caretakers the same way and use the same labels to define them as human beings, since they may have the same condition, but they are not the same person at heart. This means each and every caretaker needs person-centered care where their person is in focus and where a genuine interpersonal contact is developed between the caretaker and caregiver. I will not label you as an enemy nor as a vampire – perhaps not even as a male but purely as a creature capable of suffering. The Greeks called beings like that pathetic I believe. Communication is one of the first priorities a nurse has to establish with the caretaker in order to be able to help them, so I believe you should try communicating with me.”

It was working. To Inaho’s relief, the cursed creature tensed up somewhat where he lay.

‘ _Just a little more_ ,’ the brunet thought.

“Suffering can turn into anguish, which is defined as an extreme form of suffering. I don’t recommend that since you might fall into a crisis or melancholy. Communication helps the caregiver to understand the other and from there give them help and support to make some sense in their suffering and find a meaning behind it so that it won’t overwhelm the caretaker,” he explained. He was surprised how well he remembered what his psychologist had told him nearly two years ago when Inaho had been battling to adapt to his new life. “I can’t help you unless you tell me and show me who you are. According to Travelbee, I have to get to know you first before I can give you any form of empathy that will make me want to help you, and then turn it into sympathy. Since I have a personality disorder, I might seem clumsy and apathetic, but I am still willing to try, since I do believe sufferi-“

“ENOUGH ALREADY!” Mazuurek yelled out with a voice that bounced around in the confined space made of steel; the resonance of it rung in Inaho’s ears. The cursed creature threw himself up from the bunk bed and glared at the brunet with fury. “I have no need for your empathy, human, and I do not care about my amount of suffering or your worthless nursing theory! I will not give you any information!”

‘ _Finally_ ,’ Inaho thought pleased.

“It’s not my nursing theory,” he corrected the cursed creature. “I told you it was developed by a nursing theorist called Travelbee. I believe she was some kind of a nurse herself.”

“I do not care who she was!” the cursed count yelled angrily. “You humans never stop and you never understand you will not get any information from me! Give it a rest and let me die!”

Inaho stared at him for a moment to get a good look of the cursed count’s expression, and saw something very human billowing behind that harsh glare. This cursed creature must have been turned recently; Slaine had had a slightly stronger human flicker in his eyes than this count, but Mazuurek had still not forgotten his human ways. Inaho was clueless to how he could know that. Perhaps he had gazed too deeply into Slaine’s eyes the few and short moments he had met him to be able to differentiate between the glare of a human and a cursed creature?

“Have you gotten used to drinking blood yet?” the brunet asked instead and saw the cursed count blink from confusion and get his thoughts thrown off track. “You seem like a young vampire to me.”

Mazuurek took a step back and hid in the shadows as a desperate attempt to hide the fact Inaho had managed to sniff out.

“You believe you can determine that simply because you are a mixed creature? Hmph! How conceited of you,” the proudly acting count scoffed.

“Yes, I believe that,” Inaho answered truthfully. “I also believe I have a valid source for my knowledge to back it up with.”

Count Mazuurek sat down on the bunk bed in a flamboyant manner and threw his head back to chuckle condescendingly. Then he lowered his head again to stare at the brunet.

“Yourself?” the cursed count asked and scoffed again. “You still look human to me. You even smell like one. Disgusting is what it is.”

His scornful comment did not bite at Inaho’s pride, just like most other scornful comments thrown at him. Inaho had sometimes wondered if he even had a pride.

“Actually, my source is someone on your side of the war,” Inaho said and saw Mazuurek’s expression turn momentarily shocked before the count tried to hide it behind a sneer and a glare. The brunet did not hesitate to continue: “Slaine Saazbaum Troyard. I believe you know who it is.”

At that, Count Mazuurek’s act dropped and he stared at the half-human boy with eyes wide from shock. Inaho did not know what Mazuurek thought about the silver-crowned prince, so he had to be careful of what he said until Mazuurek himself revealed what he thought of the other cursed count. In order to come to that point, he had to keep speaking to the other and not let the conversation die.

“I met him three times when he was human,” Inaho explained. “First time I briefly met him in Shinawara in Japan when the war began. He was a blood sacrifice then. The second time I met him was on the island where one of your countesses died. Troyard was still a blood sacrifice then, and the third time I met him was in Malaysia just a couple of months ago – still a blood sacrifice. However.” The brunet made a pause to let the cursed count take in what he was saying, and then continued: “Just a couple of days ago, I met him again in Vladivostok but as a cursed creature. The look in his eyes had changed dramatically. He wasn’t the same Troyard I met the other three times. This time his expression was cold and frightening, but, behind all that, I found the human Troyard he had been the other times I had met him. He hasn’t lived long enough as a cursed creature to forget his humanity, and you have the same kind of humanity in your eyes as he had, just a little weaker.”

Count Mazuurek frowned deeply and stared at the brunet. His proud act of a cursed count had disappeared completely. The news that Inaho knew the blond-haired young vampire must have come as a great shock for the other, since Mazuurek completely forgot he was a proud cursed count of the imperial nation named Vers.

“You … know him?” Mazuurek asked, and Inaho nodded.

“Perhaps a little too well,” the brown-haired boy answered while thinking back to the moment in Vladivostok when Slaine had conquered his body. “I probably even know a thing or two about him no one else knows.”

‘ _Do you deserve to know what I know?_ ’ he wondered and watched the cursed count lower his eyes and stare at the floor between his boots. ‘ _I’ll let you know only if you become my ally_.’

Inaho waited patiently to see what Mazuurek would do or say. It was too early to reveal what he had planned on revealing to put his plan into motion and capture the elusive bat he so longed to see again. Inaho hoped the cursed count sitting in the cell in front of him would help him since this was a person who had the power to do something about the situation in this world that threatened to become chaotic under Slaine’s charge.

“So?” Mazuurek finally said and looked up at the brunet. His eyes narrowed, again trying to uphold his act of a proud count. “Are you an ally to Vers? Is that what you are telling me?”

“Are you?” Inaho asked and watched the cursed count blink from confusion again. “I’m not interested in picking sides based on politics. I’m only interested in saving those I care about and thus I pick a side that’s convenient for me. Right now, there’s no side I feel comfortable with.”

Mazuurek frowned and scoffed:

“In other words, you are a stray soldier who is trying to be a hero?”

“Perhaps,” the brown-haired boy answered bluntly. “Or perhaps not. On what side are you on, Count Mazuurek? No one can doubt that Troyard will become a new superpower with the military force he has; thanks to the submarines his force is even greater than most of you cursed counts’ combined. You might have a surface fleet capable of mass destruction, but not even you can protect yourselves from nuclear warheads and torpedoes fired by an invisible enemy thousands of kilometers away. I believe you all understood what destruction you placed in Troyard’s hands the moment you gave him the power of the Versian submarine fleets.”

“It was under completely different conditions back then. Count Saazbaum functioned as a guarantee the boy would not wreak havoc. Now, the cursed count is dead all because of you humans, and his adoptive son has gone rampant,” Mazuurek cursed. “I heard everything from this cell during the battle a while ago. Because of my hearing, I heard soldiers outside say Troyard had attacked your fleet after you dared to venture into his territory in Vladivostok. What a bold move, I must say, and foolhardy as well.”

‘ _There we go; you_ are _my ally_ ,’ the brunet thought with relief.

“This brings me back to my previous question,” Inaho continued in an attempt to make sure he could show some trust in the cursed count. He watched him closely as he asked: “Are you on Troyard’s or Princess Asseylum’s side of the war? Or do you have your own objectives?”

Right there, the moment Inaho mentioned Seylum’s name, the cursed count looked shaken and stood up from the bunk bed to stare at him with both anger and confusion. He looked as if he was lost and angry at the same time.

“What do you know about her?!” he exclaimed. “To think you even have the audacity to mention her name when you are nothing but a mere human who knows nothing about her dream! You humans murdered her!”

“Wrong,” Inaho said calmly and looked Mazuurek in the eyes. “We did not kill her. Your own did. The same count you all prize as an honorable man was the same one who carried the responsibility for the attack back in Japan.”

“Liar!” the cursed count yelled. “Count Saazbaum was a great man who did much more for Vers than anyone of us counts have!”

The door opened into the brig and Inaho looked up at the cursed girl with red hair walk toward the cell with hurrying steps. The guards outside looked pale; she must have threatened them in order to get inside.

“He’s telling the truth, you Versian filth!” Rayet growled and stomped up to the cell and stood next to Inaho. She looked at the cursed count with fire in her eyes. “Saazbaum hired my father to do the deed. I am the daughter to the terrorist who tried to kill her! My father was promised better life quality as payment, but was murdered by Saazbaum’s henchman under the count’s order!”

“Rayet,” Inaho warned her. “Don’t tell him too much about that.”

“… Tried?” Mazuurek asked and stared at her. Then he scoffed. “Your father should have taught you to never tell lies, little lady.”

“How dare you-?!” Rayet flared and slammed her hands against the bars.

“Calm down,” Inaho ordered her and stood up from where he was sitting. He turned to look at the cursed count once again. “Whose side are you on? Are you loyal to Princess Asseylum, Count Mazuurek?”

“He can’t even be loyal to his own reflection,” Rayet hissed and glared at the cursed count with murderous intent. “A weakling like him has no backbone. Lip service is all he’s good for.”

Inaho ignored her.

“Are you loyal to her?” he asked again. “Do you believe in her dream of world peace?”

Mazuurek stared at both Inaho and Rayet with a haughty look in his eyes.

“Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia was grander than any ruler of Vers has ever been,” he said quietly but with tension in his voice. “She held a bright future in her hands before her life was snuffed out. My loyalty to her stands stronger than any other conviction I harbor, and I find it a shame you humans had to bite the hand she reached out to you. Now, you shall be punished for what you did.”

‘ _You really are the ally I need_ ,’ the brunet thought and immediately answered:

“What would you say if I tell you she’s not dead?” Count Mazuurek could only stare at him in silence. “What would you do if I tell you where she is?”

Based on Mazuurek’s reaction, Inaho decided to tell him everything. He told him about how he had found Seylum in Shinawara, how he had brought her with him to the UN’s ship and how he had taken care of her. He told Mazuurek what he knew about Saazbaum’s plan and what the cursed man had done to her on board Tharsis; he especially told him how Saazbaum had shot the princess and tried to murder her by setting her on fire.

“Preposterous!” Mazuurek exclaimed at hearing that.

“The one who has her now is the son to the count who tried to murder her,” Inaho said. “Slaine Saazbaum Troyard. He is keeping her somewhere, and this he told me the last time I met him as a human; just a couple of months ago.”

Mazuurek stared at him without knowing what to say.

‘ _I can’t tell you he protected her with his own life from Saazbaum_ ,’ Inaho thought as he knew he had to falsify the truth somewhat to motivate the cursed count in front of him to turn against Slaine and chase him out of Vers.

“Impossible…!” the Versian count exclaimed breathlessly. “Why would he keep her alive? She should be a threat to his future!”

“I’m not sure why,” Inaho answered. “All I do know is he treasures her almost like a mother to the little boy he was when she saved him several years ago. They have a long history together, so perhaps he keeps her alive somewhere because he can’t let her die. Either way, she’s held captive somewhere by him and needs someone to save her from him before he eradicates her nation completely. He’s probably the most destructive one of all of you counts.”

“Inaho…” Rayet said and looked at him. “Don’t trust him. He’s one of them. A cursed count never thinks about the people.”

“That is not true!” Mazuurek said and hurried up to the bars. He took a hold of them until his already pale knuckles whitened even more. “I know the people are starving and some of us counts want to stop this madness. That is why Troyard has won so many followers; he has put the same blood sacrifice system into works that was banned by His Highness Rayvers, and it pleases the people and nobles since they do not need to worry about hunger. Even commoners are interested to become soldiers since they are allowed to capture humans to use them as their own blood sacrifices. Even if I agree that Vers’s people should not starve, I cannot agree with the means Troyard is doing things.”

Inaho felt lighter. Mazuurek turned out to be an exceptional individual.

“And how do you suggest things should be done to end the starvation of Vers’s people?” Inaho asked, and Mazuurek sighed and frowned before he quietly answered:

“To make Princess Asseylum’s wish come true.” He released the bars and took a step back to hide in the shadows as the light from the corridor began hurting his eyes. “If world peace is attained, I believe you humans would not oppose donating blood to cursed creatures. It is a small sacrifice for a greater good, and the cursed creatures would eventually come to see you as equals. The way things are now…”

The cursed count did not end his sentence and left it hanging in the air. Inaho had decided this cursed man needed to be freed once they had developed a plan that would prove to be successful.

“In other words,” Inaho said and pulled up the sleeve to his unharmed arm and stuck it in between the bars and held it to the cursed count. “You want something like this, where I – as a human – willingly sacrifice blood to you, and you show me respect and drink it responsibly without harming me. Right?” Mazuurek stared at him with shock and did not move. “I sacrifice blood to you to show you I am sincere and need your help to stop the maddened cursed count Troyard has become,” Inaho continued. “I might be a mix of human and a cursed creature, but I saw Princess Asseylum drink the blood of my colleague here next to me once, so it shouldn’t be harmful for you to drink my blood.”

“Inaho!” Rayet exclaimed and stared at him.

The brunet ignored her.

“Count Mazuurek. Speak to the handmaiden called Eddelrittuo if you can find her; she was taken by Saazbaum and Troyard two years ago. She surely knows where Asseylum is,” he said instead to the count, who slowly stepped closer and then finally reached out to touch Inaho’s warm wrist and take a hold of it. He held him gently. “According to the information I managed to interrogate from Troyard before he was cursed, the cursed princess is being kept in an inanimate state. In other words, she’s being starved to not wake up from the damages Saazbaum did on her.”

“You will let me go?” Mazuurek asked.

“Inaho, don’t trust him! He’s one of them!” Rayet tried again and took a hold of Inaho’s arm to pull it back out, but Count Mazuurek tightened the grip around Inaho’s wrist. “Let go of him!”

“You mean I should feed her enough blood she wakes up?” the count asked, and Inaho nodded.

“If you can, you should do just that. Her being alive is a great threat to Troyard. He will most certainly fall the moment the other nobles learn he has kept her as a prisoner all this time and lied about her death,” the brunet said. “However, he mustn’t be killed. I need him alive,” Inaho continued.

“When?” the cursed count asked.

“I can’t say yet. Be patient for a little longer since the time is not ready. Don’t let the humans know anything about what’s going on in Vers no matter how much they torture you. This is between you and me, and Rayet,” Inaho said and threw a meaningful glance at the cursed girl next to him, who seemed to give up and let go of his arm.

“In other words, we need to wait for the right moment?” Mazuurek asked, and Inaho nodded. “If you lie, the world will keep burning.”

“I gain nothing from lying,” the brown-haired boy answered. “You want him to fall, and I want him to fall right into my hands. I think we win more from cooperating than from being enemies.”

Mazuurek stared at him for a moment, but then he lowered his pale lips to Inaho’s wrist and finally punctured the brunet’s skin and bit into his vein. It stung horribly, but since the cursed count tried his utmost to be gentle, Inaho found it bearable. It hurt more to be bitten in the wrist than in his neck, the brunet noted before his mind was numbed by the vampire’s venom.

Rayet caught him as he was about to collapse, and when he came to he saw Mazuurek look confused and shocked as he staggered backwards until he collapsed onto the floor, and gasped as if he was nauseous.

“What … have you done to … your blood?!” he gasped angrily and looked at Inaho with fury. “Y-you tricked … me!”

‘ _What?_ ’ the brunet thought baffled and stared at the cursed count lying on the floor without understanding what had happened. He knew cursed blood made another vampire not feel too well, but he had not seen this reaction on Seylum when she had taken blood from Rayet back in South Korea. ‘ _What happened?_ ’

It made no sense.

“Your blood … is contaminated!” Mazuurek continued angrily.

“What does he mean?” Inaho asked and turned to look at Rayet, who seemed shocked as well.

“Inaho,” she said quietly. “Are you on some kind of medication right now?”

“Anesthetics for my hurt ribs and shoulder,” the brunet answered and frowned. “Why?”

“Cursed creatures that drink tainted blood like that get a blown up reaction to the substance,” Rayet explained slowly while the shock was settling. “You poisoned him. He’ll come around, however.”

‘ _Wait…!_ ’ Inaho thought as he was reminded cursed creatures were sensitive to tainted blood, and he began to come up with a plan on how to capture Slaine. ‘ _That’s it!_ ’

Suddenly, he felt excited.

†††

The next day, after the cursed count and his servant had shared a heated moment, Slaine lay slumped in the couch in the same room where it had happened. He was exhausted after planning an attack against China that bordered to his territory. He had decided to become offensive and declare war with China simply because he felt their presence dangerous, and had been in a satellite meeting with the cursed nobles that supported his cause.

‘ _War's exhausting…_ ’ he thought and sighed.

He hid his eyes behind a hand to guard them from the bright lights from the brass chandelier, when he suddenly heard hurrying steps down the corridor outside that stopped outside the door. Someone knocked with distressed knocks before the door opened and Slaine opened his eyes just in time to see a horrified Harklight appear from behind the door and look at him with worry and gasping for breath:

“M-my lord!” he said. “Count Marylcian is on his way with his entire fleet to see you!”

“What?!” Slaine exclaimed and sat up from the couch. “Who allowed him entry into my territory?”

Harklight took a deep breath and gasped:

“H-her highness did. I tried, but I could not stop her.” He stepped in and closed the door behind him. “She knows what we did yesterday…”

Slaine hurried up on his feet and felt as if a bucked of cold water had been emptied over his head. This was bad. Lemrina was acting out because of jealousy founded on what he had done with Harklight. How had she known? Had she been outside the office at some point and heard what had been done inside the room?

“Damn her!” Slaine hissed and felt anger flare up and burn his reason to ash. “That jealous snake!”

“M-my lord?” Harklight asked and stepped aside as Slaine stormed up to the door.

“Send out two attack submarines under Captain Ramius’ command to guard the Marylcian Fleet and keep an eye on it from the sky as well. Send out a Blackbird,” the cursed count ordered and opened the door. “Prepare our fleets for battle just in case. From now on, you will be my executive officer.”

“Yes, my lord!” the blood sacrifice answered behind him with surprise and shock as Slaine stomped down the passageway toward Lemrina’s cabin.

‘ _Stupid girl!_ ’ he cursed. ‘ _What have you done now?_ ’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More shit hit the fan! Wihoo! 8D


	33. The Rose and the Ring

The steps that hurried down the passageway had never been angrier. They stomped ruthlessly against the deck covered with vinyl flooring and steered him toward a cabin in a determined fashion. The irascible part of his passionate character roared and wanted release, and he was strictly searching for the receiver of this hot-tempered discharge.

‘ _How dare she?_ ’ he thought as several crewmembers stepped aside to give their admiral free access down the corridor.

They looked at him with fearful eyes and the cursed count was sure he had the appearance of the devilish wolf he had woken up as from the dead. The fury oppressed his reason and prevented him from thinking about the signals he sent to those around him. He could not care if they found him frightening or passionate; he did not care at all. He felt threatened, and anyone even slightly knowledgeable of the psychology of someone human or recently human could tell it from the fear hastening his steps and the fury chilling his eyes with intimidating cold.

He did not entirely understand it, but he was quick to react like this when he felt threatened or cornered. It was impossible to take a confrontation or ill will with calm; he had to always burn his opponents or rivals before they got the chance to burn him in order to feel calm and in control, and now Lemrina had scorched him due to jealousy – making him _lose_ control. Was he a weakling perhaps? Was he afraid of others to the point every intelligent being he met felt like a threat?

Either way, he was furious at Lemrina for allowing Count Marylcian entrance to his territory; an enemy would soon knock on his door and he was sure the cursed count would try shortening his already short future.

‘ _In other words, I have to win whatever confrontation Marylcian is after_ ,’ he thought and did not even bother to knock on the door which Lemrina probably was hiding behind.

As the door swung open, he met the shocked eyes of Eddelrittuo who had heard him coming and looked terrified. She jumped when the door slammed into the bulkhead from the powerful swing, sending a violent vibration across the deck beneath their feet from the impact. The door did not even bounce back and seemed confused of which direction it should move.

Lemrina was nowhere to be seen.

“Where is she?” Slaine asked with a hiss.

His intention was not to take his fury out on the handmaiden, but it was burning so hotly he had no control over it.

Eddelrittuo backed away from him and trembled.

“S-she … is p-painting,” she said terrified.

“Where?!” the cursed count shouted, and the handmaiden got tears in her eyes from fear.

“P-please, my lord…! S-she-“

“WHERE IS SHE?!”

“O-officers’ m-mess…!” the handmaiden whimpered and collapsed onto her knees. “Slaine, p-please do not h-hurt her!”

The cursed count did not answer her or bother to calm down – or rather: he could not calm down. He turned around and stormed into the officers’ mess and met the calm eyes of the cursed woman sitting in her wheelchair with a paintbrush in hand. The moment their gazes collided the air became tense and Lemrina’s eyes narrowed.

“The silver-coated wolf is back,” she said calmly and turned her gaze back to the canvas in front of her after acknowledging Slaine’s expression. The canvas was strategically placed to prevent Slaine from seeing the motif she was painting, but he found no interest in it now that he was boiling inside. “I assume you have heard the news of Count Marylcian approaching considering the outrageous anger you bring with you.”

“How dare you allow him entrance into my territory?!” the cursed count yelled with a voice that rung in the entire mess. “Your authority does not stretch that far!”

Lemrina kept her eyes fixed on the painting and pulled the brush dipped in blue color in a gentle downward motion over the canvas.

“And whose fault is that?” she nonchalantly asked without looking up at him. “You have not exactly given me any form of authority. I had to take the matter into my own hands and give you a reminder I am not a doll in this large dollhouse of yours called Tharsis.”

Slaine walked up to her and violently turned her wheelchair around to glare at her face to face. She looked at him with anger flaring in her blue eyes while holding the brush in the same position it had been in on the canvas moments before. Her gaze sharpened into needles.

“The reason for that is your unpredictability and lack of reliability,” hissed the angry vampire, close to the cursed princess’s face.

Lemrina raised a hand to slap him, but Slaine caught it and glowered at her, to warn her from attacking him, without releasing her wrist. She tried to pull it free, but the third generation vampire was far stronger than the eighth generation cursed creature.

“Someone has to take control of this floating funhouse of yours!” she said frustrated and finally let her anger flare up to match his. “Can you even imagine the humiliation I am going through when your blood sacrifice walks down the corridor reeking of you and what you have done in private? Your behavior is outrageous!”

‘ _Ah, so that is how you knew_ ,’ the cursed blond thought as he finally learned how Lemrina had known about his activity with Harklight the day before. ‘ _I keep forgetting a vampire’s sense of smell_.’

Slaine sneered condescendingly.

“Because I spread my legs to a man?” he hissed. “Do you feel left behind perhaps without a way to compete with him?”

Lemrina did not wait to give him a piece of her mind. She was quick to answer:

“The entire you disgust me,” she barked. “You are like a stray dog that belongs nowhere. Once you find a comfortable spot in someone’s arms, you use them and pay their emotions no mind. It is only you and your feelings, never anyone else’s. To pull them in and make them behave, you sleep with them to give them empty lies and illusions of love. Once you are done, you stray on to the next person and the next, sooner or later leaving all of them behind in your desperate search for a place to settle down that you will never find. I sometimes believe you are better off in solitude since you seem to be unable to function with other people. With an erratic personality like that, how can you ever rule a nation? Perhaps you should end your misery since you never look happy except when you are around my sister?”

Slaine straightened his back as he raised himself up to look at the cursed princess in front of him with a strict and cold expression, still holding her wrist in a ruthless grip. Without a warning, he slapped her, intentionally holding his strength back since he had no true intention of hurting her.

“Oh, worry not: I will die sooner or later – perhaps even once Marylcian arrives, all because of you taking liberties and allowing him into my territory,” he said coldly while Lemrina raised her free hand to her hurting cheek. “Once I do, I will not bother you or anyone again, but, until then, you will have to bear with my erratic behavior. I will fight with everything I got if I have to, since I have no intention of leaving my ideas unfinished.”

Lemrina looked up at him with a slightly softer look in her heavenly blue eyes, and she frowned from both anger and confusion.

“You have planned to die?” she asked and scoffed mockingly. “Then what point is there to change Vers if there is no one to lead it? You are out of your mind, Troyard, and if I had the power to take you down from whatever pedestal you stand on, I would do it in an unceremonious manner and lock you away.”

“I am being logical; the more power I get the harder I shall fall once I face a worthy opponent. That is exactly why, _Your Highness_ , I have not given you power. I cannot let you stand in my way and make me into a target the way you have tried to do now. I have to be careful and protect myself,” Slaine said calmly and leaned closer to her again and studied her closely. “Besides, you are not fit to be a ruler; you respond to your emotions without thinking things through.”

Suddenly, he did not feel threatened by her at all as he began to feel he had gained control.

“Unlike you?” she asked and moved her face closer to Slaine’s. They stared at each other with so much tension it would have not surprised him if sparks began to fly any moment between them. “If that is your criteria, then you are far from fit for ruling as well.”

“Unlike you, Princess Lemrina, I am not as naïve as to mindlessly give way for jealousy,” he said and released her. She slowly lowered her hand to her chest and rubbed the hurting wrist with gentle fingers. “What will you do if I am killed? Have you thought of that?” As Lemrina held her answer while looking concerned, Slaine nodded knowingly. “As I thought. You have paid no thought to that.” He turned around to leave her with words of warning trailing behind him: “That is the difference between you and me as rulers. Therefore, I advise you to work with me rather than against me; you are nothing without me.” He stopped at the door and threw a poisonous glare over his shoulder at the insulted cursed princess, saying: “Once he arrives, you will be there with me to greet him since you are so keen to rule, _Your Highness_. Make no mistake. I will be there to watch over you. Do not dare to let me down.”

After a couple of steps down the corridor, he could hear her whisper the words:

“You monster…”

This time, he felt no empathy for her.

†††

“You want me to explain your situation through the perspective of yet another theory, or do you feel like talking this time?” he asked and watched the shivering cursed count’s back, who lay slumped on the bunk bed, facing away from the bars. As the cursed creature tried to ignore him again, Inaho continued: “What about a salutogenic perspective called Sense of Coherence? It’s not a nursing theory; it’s a theory about the supportive factors of health instead of the causes of disease and suffering. Perhaps that’ll give you some coping strategies for dealing with your imprisonment and suffering here?”

The vampire sighed heavily and said with a patronizing but frustrated voice:

“Are you a nurse or psychologist of some kind?”

“No,” Inaho answered and continued frankly: “I have just studied on some other theories these past two days to annoy you with in case you refused to speak to me today.”

Mazuurek curled up and grumbled:

“I would have found you amusing had the situation been different. You seem like a guy with a good sense of humor…”

“I take that as a sarcastic compliment, which basically makes it into no compliment at all,” the brunet answered and went straight to the point: “The incident with my blood was completely unintentional, and I ask for forgiveness. I had completely forgotten about substances in the blood affecting a cursed creature; I haven’t been a blood sacrifice for a long time, and I have only heard about it once or twice.”

“Hmph!” the other answered and went silent.

Inaho waited for a while to see if the cursed creature decided to continue talking, but, after a couple of minutes of silence, he concluded Mazuurek had decided to silently protest once again.

“Antonovsky created the term of salutogenesis a couple of years after Nightfall began before it had turned into a third world war,” he said. “Sense of Coherence is a theory to measure the experience of health in people and consists of three dimensions that together-“

“All right,” the exhausted cursed count sighed and got up from where he was lying, turned around to face Inaho and stared at him with a frustrated glare: “What is it you want to know today?”

“Thank you,” the brunet said and answered the cursed man’s question: “What is going on among the nobles of Vers? I’m referring to Troyard’s sudden power when I ask this. What do they think of him?”

The cursed count leaned back against the wall behind the bunk bed and stared up at the ceiling while thinking for a while. He was pale and seemed to have barely any energy left to anything else but to speak.

“Some of the counts believe Count Saazbaum was betrayed and murdered by one of our own, and they point their fingers at Troyard as the possible culprit behind the backs of those who support him,” he answered and took a deep breath to continue speaking. “They dislike him as a count simply because they think the noble clans’ reputation is threatened by him. Troyard was a mere blood sacrifice after all; someone who should not have become a lord at all. Some nobles have voiced thoughts of stopping him.”

“In other words, murder him?” Inaho wondered out loud and met the tired gaze of the vampire hiding in the shadows.

“Yes, that is correct,” Mazuurek said quietly and closed his eyes. “I was cursed two years ago and was sent on a mission to simply concentrate on restricting your resources rather than fighting you humans head on. However, I was pressured by other nobles to attack you now that UN has become so aggressive in their tactics. The others called my mission an act of nobility and honor, but, in reality, they simply wanted more time to think things through concerning Troyard and not have UN breathing down their necks while thinking about what to do.”

“They want the glory of taking him down,” the brunet concluded, and Mazuurek nodded.

Inaho got his suspicions confirmed that Mazuurek was naïve in a sense; he had a lot to prove to the other nobles and lacked enough experience and confidence to stand against peer pressure. That had been a reason for his defeat; a reason to why he was sitting in this cell aboard Deucalion. Since the cursed count was weak against peer pressure, the brunet suspected he would be easily convinced to participate in his plan to overthrow Slaine. Mazuurek also seemed to still think morally, even if he had grown cold throughout the years as a vampire; he supported peace rather than war and had hints of his old humanity left.

Mazuurek chuckled tiredly and then said:

“From a human’s point of view, I suppose Vers’ feudal system would seem just anachronistic.”

“If that’s a problem, you should have changed it yourselves. Now, I believe you have a knight in a battered armor trying to change it for you, and I doubt he has your best interest in mind,” the brunet said and watched the cursed count carefully.

“Spoken like someone born into a land of plenty. You are much like pigs that are about to die; once you are too cold to move, it is too late to do anything,” the count mumbled and took a deep breath. “Your time is running out.”

“That’s a fair warning,” Inaho admitted. “I’m sure you speak from experience considering you have already died once.” He got up from the chair to walk over to the bars and peer at the cursed creature through them. “Then I guess it’s time for me to begin moving. The same goes for you.” Mazuurek’s eyes widened from surprise as he looked at the half-human boy. “I ask for your assistance. Find Princess Asseylum and wake her up. Do what you must and don’t fail; we need her to show herself to her people in order to stop Troyard.”

“So, you are saying you will help me get out of here?” Mazuurek asked, and Inaho nodded.

“Three weeks from now, the repairs on this ship are expected to be finished. We are in China, Hong Kong to be exact. I intend to take you to an abandoned shore of East China Sea and give you a radio so you can contact your own. I’m sure there are some Versian ships not too far away from this area that are willing to pick you up. Go to Vladivostok; I haven’t heard anything about Troyard moving from there yet, and I doubt he has anywhere more interesting to go now that he had waged war with China.”

Mazuurek looked shocked and Inaho kept staring back at him without blinking. He was determined to have this cursed count aid him, and he knew Mazuurek was intrigued to lend him a helping hand.

†††

The cold wind pulled at his black fur coat and ruffled the hair sticking out from beneath his hat. Lemrina was dressed in a similar manner and looked somewhat worried while standing a step in front of him. She had had plenty of blood to keep her strong during this encounter. Eddelrittuo and Harklight were also dressed in warm clothes to protect them from the winter wind, and stood a couple of steps behind Slaine. Snow would begin falling any day now.

A ship was moving closer to the harbor in Vladivostok where they stood on the dock that would welcome the cursed nobles on the approaching vessel. Slaine was nervous. He had been in conflict with Marylcian before, but, this time, he was sure this conflict would spark into a bloody fight since Saazbaum was not there to calm the situation down.

‘ _I have to win. I just have to and chase him away_ ,’ he thought and squeezed his leather gloved hands into fists.

As the small ship had docked and the gangway had been lowered, two figures clad in black fur coats stepped down the gangway. One of them walked with aggressive steps and the other walked calmly – both revealing their state of mind through their pace.

One of the figures bowed before Lemrina with a hand to his chest and a sly smile on his lips. Marylcian was as repulsive as ever in his ways, Slaine thought. The cursed count had never been the slightest humble toward anyone and behaved outrageously proud even in front of a member of the royal family in an attempt to prove something. It was as if he believed he was the only cursed noble worthy to be remembered and was a supporter for the feudal system of Vers that allowed him to subject suffering and pain on others.

Barouhcruz was with him, which surprised Slaine. The other cursed man bowed respectfully to the princess, just like a cursed count should.

“We are both humbled and delighted that Your Highness has granted us an audience,” Marylcian said with his disgustingly smooth voice that had never rung nicely.

“Count Marylcian and Count Barouhcruz, I am most grateful to you both for bolstering our Pacific defenses. Under normal circumstances, I expect that you would wish to continue protecting our borders and expand your domains,” Lemrina said skillfully and gave the counts a slight bow; not too deep or else she risked giving them more respect than a member of the royal family should give someone of a lower rank.

Marylcian smiled and stood up to look at her. He intentionally kept his gaze locked on her to avoid looking at Slaine.

“We shall leave the conquest of Earth in the hands of our like-minded brethren. Count Barouhcruz has left his men to keep an eye on the borders and is simply here to keep me company. There is no need of concern, Your Highness,” the proud cursed count said.

“I see,” Lemrina smiled the strongminded smile so characteristic to her – a smile Slaine had not seen for a long time, perhaps due to their situation that had become tense and toxic once again. “That is good to hear. I show my full faith in you both.”

“However,” Marylcian said and got a look of concern on his proud countenance. “There is a matter of even greater importance to discuss.” Slaine felt the tension grow in the atmosphere. “With the previous Count Saazbaum dead, who will succeed to the post of Royal Guard, who is charged with safeguarding the Royal Palace…” the proud dog then said and threw a sharp glare at Slaine, before looking at Lemrina again with a gentler expression. “As well as Her Highness of course?”

Slaine narrowed his eyes and stared at the cursed count standing in the orange glow of a street light behind him while his shadow crawled over the ground toward Slaine and Lemrina, nearly reaching them.

“Count Marylcian,” he said with a strict voice. “There is no cause for concern. I have taken over the duties left by my father.”

The cursed count in front of him looked insulted. He gritted his teeth and pulled his head back as if he was about to sneeze, looking dumb with the exacerbated acting of his.

“Princess Lemrina, I have come to beg you to consider me the honor of serving at your side,” he said as he decided to ignore Slaine for as long as possible.

“Have your ears gone deaf, or are you obnoxiously ignoring me in front of Her Highness, Count Marylcian?” Slaine asked poisonously, and the proud count could not help but to throw a glare at him with daggers in his eyes. “I told you I have-“

“I will thank you to keep your comments to yourself, blood sacrifice!” the other snapped. Slaine felt his body tense up; the cursed count did not hold it a secret he was after Slaine’s neck. This would end in a battle; the cursed blond was sure of it now that the proud dog had given his words a demeaning tone. “This is a strong military base waving the flag of Vers Empire. The post was bestowed upon the previous Count Saazbaum, a man of great merit who gave us a new hope after our previous princess’s death. I was disappointed at him being chosen, but nonetheless approved. Yet you, a blood sacrifice even if you are his adopted son and cursed child, dare to think you can inherit that post using this turmoil as a pretext? To have one of the cattle, a blood sacrifice, set foot inside the residence where a member of the venerable Vers imperial family dwells is a fact that cannot be tolerated!”

‘ _You proud mutt!_ ’ Slaine thought and gritted his teeth as Marylcian stepped three steps closer. The count’s shadow reached Slaine’s feet.

The young vampire’s teeth began to tingle and his nails itched from wanting to bury themselves in Count Marylcian’s throat and claw his undead heart out.

“You are not qualified to protect this place, not in the least, blood sacrifice!” Marylcian then yelled and bared his fangs.

He seemed to feel the same instinct of murder as Slaine did.

‘ _Don’t lose face_ ,’ the cursed blond thought and took a quiet breath to calm down. He threw a glance at the other cursed count who had not said a word during this whole exchange of insults. ‘ _Even if Count Barouhcruz doesn’t seem impressed of Marylcian’s approach, his presence probably serves as some kind of witness to what will happen here_.’

“You are quite bold to insult Count Saazbaum’s judgement of making me his son and heir, Count Marylcian. And you are even bolder to do that in the presence of our princess,” he said calmly but with an authoritarian tone. Marylcian’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Very well. What do you suggest then?” Slaine decided to ask and stood with his back as straight as possible and his spine curved into the perfect shape like that of a noble.

Marylcian got a disgusting smile on his face and pulled his hand through his hair in a gaudy manner.

“That we determine which is more fit to protect Her Highness, in a face-to-face battle,” he said and seemed to consider himself victorious already. “Count Troyard, I hereby challenge you to a duel tomorrow at midnight!”

The challenge sparked a flash in Slaine’s mind that threatened to turn into a lightning. He wanted to attack the cursed mutt immediately and end this confrontation once and for all. If he did, however, he would lose face and be branded as uncivil among the other cursed nobles. The silent cursed count behind Marylcian was a witness to everything happening here.

‘ _This challenge is the reason to why Count Barouhcruz is here_ ,’ he thought and glared at the sneering Marylcian. ‘ _All right then, you proud mutt: Since you are so keen to fight a wolf, I welcome your throat into my maw_.’

†††

Inaho squinted as the light from Dr. Yagarai’s examining flashlight blinded him. He let the psychologist examine him without complaining about the discomfort his intrigued studies caused him.

“This is so fascinating,” Dr. Yagarai said and leaned back against his chair again. “Your eye certainly reacts strangely to light. I’ve never seen human pupils turn into slits like a cat’s when exposed to strong light. You really are cursed,” he then said and shook his head in disbelief. “I should have become a medical doctor rather than a psychologist.”

“It helps me to control the pain light can cause me,” Inaho said and rubbed his right eye that still ached somewhat after Yagarai’s prying flashlight. “I’m still light sensitive because of my heightened senses, but I can handle strong lights more effectively than when I was purely human.”

The brown-haired boy had intentionally directed the topic away from the rape in Vladivostok and over to the fact that he was a half-cursed creature. Dr. Yagarai had been nearly obsessive about him being less human than him, and was intrigued by Inaho’s condition. It was easy to steer the topic of discussion with this man who seemed to forget why Inaho was there the moment the brunet brought up the fact that he was a half-vampire.

“What about strength?” Yagarai asked. “Since you’re really strong, how does it affect your muscles and bones? Cursed creatures can push their bodies since they are more durable, but what about you?”

“I had to make my bones denser by subjecting them to stress. Martial artists do that to make their bones more durable,” Inaho explained. “My muscles, however, are still human even if they are stronger as well. I’m not sure how it works, but I can exert them beyond their normal capabilities as long as I have enough oxygen in my blood. When I get to the point where their normal capacity is pushed, they feel like rupturing, but, somehow, they don’t. So I can push them beyond the normal limit.”

“And you’re very keen to workouts to keep them strong as well, I’ve heard,” Yagarai said and watched Inaho nod. “That’s quite sensible of you. How has all of this affected your mental wellbeing?”

“I got therapy back at the research facility, and because of my-“

Inaho interrupted himself and turned to look toward the door into the room. Steps he recognized were walking toward the room and did not seem hasty or stressed. They sounded rather gloomy, as if the person walking felt downhearted. The brunet recognized who they belonged to.

Dr. Yagarai stared at him with a frown of confusion – clearly not hearing the approaching steps – before he heard a knock on the door and it swung open. In the opening, Yuki’s serious expression emerged.

“Oh, so this is where you were,” she said. Inaho knew she was pretending she had been searching for him; she knew he was seeing Dr. Yagarai. “Did I interrupt something?”

Yagarai looked down at his wristwatch and shook his head.

“Oh no, ma’am. It’s way past the end of our session,” he said and smiled. “We had so much to talk about we forgot about the time.”

Inaho got up from his seat and looked at her, waiting for her to state her business. He had a feeling he knew why she had been searching for him.

“Got a minute?” she asked him, and Inaho nodded and followed her out of the room, down the corridor and into a conference room. “Nao,” she said as he closed the door behind him. He had a feeling he had been in a situation like this before.

‘ _Ah…_ ’ he thought as he remembered. ‘ _Back in the lavatory in Shinawara_ …’

“Why did you decide to go to Vladivostok?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” the brunet asked and looked at her while waiting for her to explain herself.

“There’s no reason for you to fight, right? You should pack up and leave now that your injuries have nearly healed,” she said, and Inaho immediately understood she had been contemplating on what had happened back in Vladivostok.

‘ _You must have been scared to see me like that again_ ,’ he thought as he thought back to his wounded state. ‘ _So was I when I saw you like that._ ’

“It’s the same for you, Yuki,” he said and stared at her.

“No, it’s not,” she said and frowned deeply. “I’m a soldier but you’re still a child.”

Inaho stared at her for saying something as hurtful as that. Of course he had a reason to fight whether he was a soldier or not. Even a child had something to fight for – a thought he had not even considered back in Shinawara when the war began. He had learned their situation was far more dystopian than he had wanted to believe at the start of this war.

“There was no reason for you to become a soldier, so it’s the same for both of us. And remember what you told me in Shinawara when this war broke out? You told me to trust my gut feelings if I have to and adapt my plans for the situation,” he argued.

Yuki stomped her heel against the floor and exclaimed sarcastically with frustration:

“Jesus, you’re so clever, Nao!” Inaho jerked from her sudden outburst; he had not seen that coming. “I know what I said back then and I regret I made you into a soldier by training you at school. To think you put those two things together to use them by fighting in this war… I regret that every day.” Her expression softened and became contorted with grief as she watched him with love. “When I saw you that night two years ago, covered in blood and nearly dead, I asked myself why I didn’t stop you. Then, again in Vladivostok, you were wounded and hung in the hands of that disgusting Troyard, and I questioned my ability as your guardian. I don’t want to lose you, Nao.”

‘ _This is not fair_ ,’ Inaho thought. ‘ _I want to protect you, too, and I’m capable of doing just that. Why are you this selfish? I have feelings as well. I worry for you. I care for you. I risk my life for you just as you risk your life for me. What you’re telling me is not fair_.’

“I became a soldier because I wanted to protect you and the world you live in, and yet, you still…” she continued but her voice died out before she got the chance to finish her sentence.

‘ _You won’t listen to me no matter what I say_ ,’ he thought and stared at her expressionlessly:

“I’m sorry, but I can’t stand around doing nothing. I decided this already when the war began in Shinawara. You aren’t the only one risking of losing something,” he said and watched her eyes tear up as she understood he was out of her reach.

“It’s because of the princess, then?” she asked and shook her head. “That girl’s not alive anymore. Why are you fighting for the dream of a dead girl? This is not like you, Nao.”

Inaho felt agitated by Yuki’s thick-headedness. Why did she forget to consider he was trying to protect her and not Seylum’s dream?

‘ _If that’s the reason you believe I am fighting this, then fine_ ,’ he thought and remembered back to her teasing him for being in love with the cursed princess two years ago. She still seemed to believe that kind of love was his motivation. ‘ _She needs to know about Seylum…_ ’ If he told her he was fighting because she was not dead, would she believe him? In a sense, he felt obliged to tell her because she was his sister and closest relative, and it would probably stop her from pestering him about running away from the war and watch those he loved be eaten alive by monsters.

“That’s not entirely true,” he said. Yuki’s expression turned into surprise. “Seylum’s not dead, Yuki.”

His sister’s eyes told him she did not believe him.

“How could you possibly know that?” she asked distressed, fearing for her brother’s life. “Have you gone mad?”

“I can’t tell you how I know, but I have a reliable source for that,” he said.

“That vampire in the brig?”

“No,” he answered her immediately. “I’m in a delicate and complicated situation that requires utter secrecy. I just know she’s alive and being held against her will. I want to save her, Yuki, and running away is not an option. I want to rescue her.”

He hated he had to lie about Seylum being his reason instead of being honest and say he wanted to save his loved ones – including Slaine Saazbaum Troyard. People were still conventional and such broken romanticists it was easier to sympathize with the love between a young man and woman than other form of relationships. ‘True love’ people called it as if it had no room for other variations, and it won over every other argument.

There was a reason people wrote poetry and lyrics about love and sung about it as the counterpart or reason to war. Inaho had been curious about what love really meant and had wondered why people created fairytales about it. Now, as he had experienced it himself in the silver-crowned prince, he found it truly was intoxicating and maddening. Yuki would understand if he used love as a reason, and she would hopefully give up on trying changing his mind. Besides, Yuki would have become furious if Inaho told her Slaine was his final goal.

“That’s impossible!” his sister finally shouted and looked distressed as she probably understood she could not argue against ‘true love’.

“Yuki,” Inaho said quietly and decided to push it: “She was shot right in front of me while trying to protect me, and was put on fire.” Yuki pressed her lips together as she understood she had lost against that kind of argument. “That’s why I have to save her,” he finished and opened the door to leave.

‘ _I’m sorry for lying to you, but I can’t tell you the truth; I have become a hypocrite since I want to fight alone. It’s better if you think of Seylum as my reason to fight since that’s probably easiest for you to understand…_ ’

“Nao!” he heard her yell before the door swung shut behind him.

‘ _I’m sorry Seylum,_ ’ he thought as he felt like he betrayed the cursed princess whose joyful company he had enjoyed.

†††

The admiral’s quarters was occupied by one cursed creature, a human, and three voices from a radio. Harklight stood behind him, witnessing what was being exchanged between Slaine and the cursed nobles over the radio as the blond cursed admiral’s executive officer. The moment the news about Count Marylcian challenging Slaine had traveled across the seas and lands to alert every other cursed noble, Slaine had decided to gamble and contact Count Orga, Count Sebring and Countess Raffia to let them know he would take the lead of Vers’ future once this duel with the obnoxious cursed count was finished. He had nothing to lose, he figured, and if he won this duel he would gain the respect he finally needed to take command.

“Thank you all for allowing me to intrude on your valuable time,” he said into the radio.

“ _I wish to express my condolences for your loss, Count Troyard_ ,” he heard Countess Raffia say. “ _Whatever happened to Count Saazbaum is most regrettable. When he was alive, my father was greatly indebted to him. If it is in my power, whatever assistance you may request is yours._ ”

Slaine smiled and felt slightly victorious. Even if Countess Raffia had hesitated to support Slaine in the beginning, she had quickly changed her mind once Saazbaum had passed away and Slaine had proclaimed his territory as his and let the nation know he would continue Saazbaum’s work of ending the Versian population’s starvation.

“Thank you, that is most kind,” he answered with a gentle tone to close the emotional distance between them and keep the atmosphere of the encrypted transmission as calm as possible to prepare them for what he was to say. “However,” he continued slightly more seriously. “Now is not the time to wallow in individual sentimentality.”

“ _Most commendable_ ,” Count Sebring said, and Count Orga continued:

“ _This is the time for the cursed nobles to band together and press forward with the invasion of Earth. Our people have starved enough; we need more blood sacrifices_.”

‘ _You don’t want to give up the ones you have and share the blood with your people, and I know you have plenty of blood sacrifices_ ,’ Slaine thought and frowned. ‘ _Hypocrite_.’

“ _That is the best way to honor Count Saazbaum; to fulfill his dream_ ,” the cursed countess chimed in.

“Indeed.” Slaine made a small pause now that he was to gently reveal why he had called these three for a meeting. “Our ships must sail forward together towards the same goal,” he then said and heard the silence on the radio for a short moment, before a chuckled surprised him:

“ _Ah, now I see_ ,” Countess Raffia said, and Count Sebring continued:

“ _You intend to take the helm, them?_ ” he asked, and Slaine smiled to make his voice sound not only strict but also humble:

“If I may be so presumptuous. Since I was closest to my father, I believe I should continue his legacy the way he intended to and use his teachings. I cannot do it myself, however, and I ask for your blessing.”

In reality, Slaine had no tangible knowledge about Saazbaum’s work. Harklight had filled him in on whatever the blood sacrifice had managed to pick up in conversations Saazbaum had had with his subordinates and what he had happened to read on the papers on Saazbaum’s desk. No papers Saazbaum had had with him on board the Typhoon that fated day had survived the fire, and no other information had been found that was of use. Saazbaum had been paranoid and kept everything a secret to incredible extents.

What Harklight had told him and what Slaine already knew had not been enough to shed light on what Saazbaum had been planning, which forced Slaine to pretend he knew when interacting with others and secretly patch up the gaps with whatever means he had.

“ _By the way_ ,” Count Sebring interrupted quickly. “ _I understand that you are to duel Count Marylcian?_ ” Slaine tensed up. “ _I find it odd to be fighting when we must band together. Do you not agree, Count Troyard?_ ”

Of course this duel was ridiculous. Slaine knew this and he felt like Sebring was trying to scold him, indirectly calling him a rookie for falling into Marylcian’s trap. Yet, Marylcian made a great example of how not to act in a moment like this where the nation was put under pressure. If Slaine won, he would use his victory as a political tool and strengthen his arguments on why he deserved the favor of the people and other nobles.

‘ _You’re all dogs_ ,’ he thought with an expression of gloom. ‘ _A pack of proud domesticated dogs who want to run wild._ ’

“No lowly human…” he began with a voice lowered by his dark feelings. “No lowly human could possibly be a match for mighty Vers. Such an assumption creates an opening, which becomes a tear. After a while, it opens up to an enormous hole and then disintegrates completely. That is the current state of the cursed nobles.”

He knew fully well he had insulted all of the cursed nobles with those simple sentences. No one had said such things before, and he was bold to voice his opinion of what was happening with the cursed nobles. Proud, arrogant and deceitful – only interested in their own honor and glory… That was what they were, and he had finally been honest.

“ _You go too far, Count Troyard!_ ” Sebring said as his pride had been hurt by the cursed blond who had hit the nail on the head and made it hurt.

“As you are aware, I was a blood sacrifice not too long ago. I believe that is a fact that has escaped none of your attention. However, being an outsider affords me a certain perspective. This upcoming duel is also the result of a cursed count’s hubris, and I believe it is my responsibility to teach him the error of his ways,” Slaine said determinedly, insisting he was right by adding his conviction to the tone of his voice. “For our motherland.”

The radio went quiet. Slaine heard Harklight hold his breath. The air was tense and everybody felt it. The blond cursed count waited patiently for the others’ answer. He had said enough and conveyed his thoughts as he had intended. All he could do now was to wait and hope his tactic strengthened his power – a power that was already suffocating him.

“ _I see…_ ” he heard Count Orga finally say after pondering for a while. “ _You have a point_.”

“ _But Count Orga_ ,” Raffia exclaimed, but was interrupted:

“ _I loathe admitting it. Nevertheless, it is the truth. Some portion of it at least_ ,” he said with a somewhat cautionary tone. It was a warning Slaine had to accept since he knew he had said outrageous things during this short exchange. “ _I shall leave the matters to your discretion, Count Troyard. Your bold tactic in Vladivostok was a magnificent display of bravery_.”

With those words, the cursed count logged off the transmission with a click, and Slaine decided – relieved – to properly bid farewell to the other two still listening:

“Count Sebring, Countess Raffia. Thank you for doing me the honor of listening to my many rude remarks. Until next time.”

With those words, he turned the radio off and took a deep breath to lean over his desk. He was exhausted already.

“My lord?” Harklight asked and stepped forward – ready to serve him.

“What time is it?” the cursed blond asked without looking up at the young man.

“Half past nine, my lord,” his servant answered, and Slaine sighed and looked out at the darkened world outside the portholes.

How he missed to see the sun set and rise. It was only during late evenings and early nights he was allowed to pull the curtains back to look at the outside world, and it was mostly monochromatic due to his new night vision sight.

“Two and a half hours left until the duel,” Slaine mumbled and sighed deeply before getting up from his slumped position. “I should speak to Lemrina and visit Princess Asseylum before that,” he tiredly said and got up from his comfortable chair. “Harklight,” he then whispered and looked up at the human young man with a saddened smile. “If anything happens to me, make sure to protect Princess Asseylum with everything you got. Will you do that for me?”

“Of course, my lord…” Harklight answered with a heavy frown on his face and bowed.

Slaine left his office to find Lemrina. He had to swallow his own pride this time and clear the air between him and the cursed princess who had been painting ever since their heated argument a couple of days before. Something Slaine had learned was that if he kept on pushing people away after he was emotionally done with them, they could stab him in the back one day. He had to keep Lemrina on his side, and he had to pamper her the way he had used to when he had been a human.

She was found by following her humming voice in the officers’ mess where they had argued, again with the painting turned away from the door with her sitting behind it. Eddelrittuo stood next to her, holding the color palette filled with blue colors of different variations, and looked up at him with terrified eyes; she had not forgotten his fury a couple of days ago.

Gently, Slaine knocked on the doorframe and looked at Lemrina through the open door. This scene felt somewhat nostalgic and he remembered back to when he had found flowers on the beach of Malaysia and brought them back to Dioscuria a couple of months ago. Back then, he had found her just like this; painting while humming gently, and given her one of the flowers. She had not shown this habit for a very long time.

“Are you really going to fight the duel, Slaine?” she suddenly asked, without looking up at him, as she had heard him coming down the passageway – just like in Slaine’s memory.

This time, she sounded careful instead of confident.

“Eddelrittuo, could you leave me and Her Highness alone for a while?” he sighed and stepped into the room. The handmaiden hurried to obey after putting the color palette onto the table next to Lemrina. As Slaine stood inside the room and closed the door behind him, he looked at the cursed princess and said: “Yes, I have been challenged, so I cannot back down.”

Lemrina went quiet for a while and kept on painting. The sound of her wet brush softly scraping against the canvas tickled his ears.

“This happened because I allowed Count Marylcian’s visit…” a mumble said from behind the canvas. “I am so sorry, Slaine… I lost my reason and put you in an awful situation.”

Slaine frowned – surprised she was apologizing – and decided to ride on this welcomed wave and let it bring their relationship gently to a shore. He hurried up to her and knelt next to her canvas stand, and said:

“Not at all. It is thanks to you that I now get the perfect opportunity to demonstrate my strength.” He looked up at her once he heard her move and met her teary blue eyes. “If I am victorious in this duel, it will act as a deterrent against cursed nobles who oppose me. There is nothing to be concerned about, Princess Lemrina.”

She watched him with shock for a while, and Slaine kept on looking at her and waiting for her answer. Then, after a short while, she smiled weakly – still with tears in her eyes.

“Your dream might actually come true one day, do you not think so?” she asked.

Hurriedly, Slaine shook his head with a wry smile:

“I have no dream to-“

“A blood sacrifice,” Lemrina interrupted him and her smile turned upside down from grief. “A blood sacrifice who had been held in contempt now holds genuine power within Vers. I have felt it ever since we first met…” She hesitated and gritted her teeth momentarily before continuing: “That you and I are kindred spirits. However, I believe you have greater strength than m-“

“I cannot do this without you, Your Highness,” Slaine said quietly, looking at her gently. “I need your blessing. I need you to believe in me.” Lemrina kept staring at him, baffled of what he had just said. “Do you intend to hold on to your grudge against the royal family forever?” he continued.

Lemrina averted her gaze and took a deep breath before looking up at Slaine with determination.

“Yes,” she answered. “It is incredibly satisfying to see the lowest on the totem pole – a blood sacrifice – gaining power.” Then she turned her gaze to her canvas and said with a trembling voice. “I also believe that you will never let go of your princess…” she mumbled and dabbed some blue color onto the painting. “You genuinely love her, right?”

“Lemrina,” Slaine began, to stop her thoughts from spinning out of control, but stopped as he noticed the cursed woman wanted to say something painful:

“I have been thinking, Slaine,” she mumbled. “Perhaps I have been too hard on you. Perhaps I should let you roam freely and not try to possess you.” Slaine frowned without understanding what she was saying. This was so unlike her; her maturity had not shown for a very long time. “If I may…” she continued and hesitated a little more. “Would you let me help you? I do not mind if I am only my sister’s substitute, just like Harklight. Let me help you; I shall do whatever you say. Make me into a queen and I will be to your service in exchange of your company. I feel so tired of being alone.”

Slaine stood up and stared at her with shock. What was she saying and why? Had she really come to her senses or was he the insane one who had pushed her into saying things that would please him? He had become less sure of who the culprit and victim was of the two. It had become harder and harder to differentiate, as if he doubted his own perception and interpretation of what was going on.

Lemrina looked up at him with a tearful smile.

“I promise I will keep my jealousy in check,” she said quivering. “What I did – putting you in this situation where you might die your last death – made me frightened after our argument. I never thought of the consequences. You were right all along, and I am so sorry.”

Slaine exhaled softly and smiled with a frown while reaching out his hand to her. As she raised her left hand to his, he gripped it gently and gave it a kiss and whispered:

“If I come victoriously out of this duel, I will give you your first bouquet of flowers.”

Lemrina’s eyes widened and tears began streaming down her cheeks. She smiled and shook her head while gripping his hand tightly.

“Y-you remembered…” she whimpered. “You remembered your promise, Slaine.”

Slaine brushed the back of her hand with a gentle thumb and caressed her ring finger one extra time.

“I will make you into a queen, and – once Vers is ready – you will announce our engagement,” he said. “Worry not. I will guide you to the best of my abilities. Let us change Vers together.”

The crying princess blinked the tears out of her eyes and nodded with a smile.

“You remember when you told me those ancient stories?” she asked.

“Of course,” Slaine answered.

“You told me a couple of tragedies where people turned into flowers when they died,” she said. “Just like Narcissus and Hyacinthus, Crocus and Adonis, I also believe the gods would have turned you into a flower out of pity or love.”

Slaine chuckled at her juvenile romanticism and asked her what flower he would be, and she answered he would become a rose.

“Chloris,” Slaine said and searched his memory. “She was the Greek goddess of flowers and springtime.” He felt a sudden reminder of his old self, and decided to immerse himself in the story like he used to: “She stumbled upon a dead woodland nymph when she was taking a morning walk,” he said and pretended to misstep on something. Lemrina smiled wider from seeing him finding back to his old self. “Chloris was struck by grief from seeing the poor creature’s fate. She decided to give her life anew,” he said and pressed his hands together to form them into the shape of a bud. “And turned her body into a flower,” he then said as he opened his hands like a blooming flower with a slow and gentle gesture. Lemrina listened intently as if she had missed his stories and a kind glow gleamed in her blue eyes as she listened to Slaine continue: “She asked the keeper of the west wind to blow the clouds away so the sun god Apollo could shine his golden rays over the flower to let it bloom. Aphrodite gave the flower beauty,” he said and pretended to sprinkle something over an invisible rose in front of him before pretending to pour something from a pitcher with gentle care: “And the wine god Dionysus shared his intoxicating nectar to give it a sweet aroma. The three Graces granted it charm, joy and splendor, and – once the flower was finished – they all agreed it was the most remarkable flower of them all. Aphrodite named it Rose, after her son…” He put his hands together in the shape of a heart and smiled: “… and the god of love; Eros.”

Lemrina studied him with glittering eyes as he finished his story and lowered his hands, and then shook her head with a relieved smile and said:

“I guess the red rose is taken then,” she said and took a hold of the canvas. As she turned it around, an unfinished but yet breathtaking blue rose was revealed. “But, you are not a red rose, Slaine,” she continued. “You are a blue one. First I painted this with the symbolism of unrequited love in mind, but now I believe this blue rose might symbolize miracles.”

At that, Slaine felt his confidence sink like a stone in a dark ocean.

‘ _That’s not the only thing it means…_ ’ he thought and forced a smile onto his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I threw things around a little with Slaine's and Lemrina's conversation here at the end. Here, Lemrina is admitting defeat and Slaine is not as passive to her actions as he is in the anime; I wanted to make them want to understand each other (since I feel that's more believable than the passive attitude they have in the anime) and also let them somehow find back to each other after the turmoil they have gone through and will go through.
> 
> Also, I wanted Inaho to finally realize he has to fight alone, and have him reject his sister's desperate pleas to run away from the war. I felt it was an important scene in the anime, and so I threw it in here as well.


	34. Going Through the Deep Forest

“My lord,” the petite handmaiden said surprised as Slaine opened the door into the cabin where Asseylum’s corpse lay slumbering.

Eddelrittuo frowned and took a step back; clutching her hands together in front of her like she always did when feeling nervous.

‘ _Do I still frighten you?_ ’ the cursed blond thought and frowned.

“How is she?” he asked with the kindest tone he could muster to not alarm her.

“S-she is the same as always,” the cursed girl answered and looked over at the golden-haired princess. “My lord,” she then continued and turned her gaze back to Slaine. “About Princess Lemrina-“

“Everything is all right,” Slaine interrupted her as he knew she was about to ask about how his conversation with her went just moments ago. “We have licked each other’s wounds. Once this duel is over – if I survive, she will become a queen.”

The handmaiden seemed somewhat relieved and lowered her eyes to release a breath she had been holding.

Slaine walked up to the cursed princess and knelt before her next to her bed. He stared at her closed eyes and raised a careful hand to caress her cheek lovingly, silently confessing his desperate and unconditional love to her once again. How many times had he done it now? He had lost count a long time ago. His eyes were drawn to the talisman lying on her chest. She still wore it as his superstitious try to guard her when he was not close by, and silently he hoped it would continue keeping her safe – even after his final death.

Eddelrittuo’s light steps came closer and stopped somewhere behind him to his right.

“A-are you sure you want to fight this duel, my lord?” she asked with a whisper.

Slaine took Asseylum’s hand and pushed his forehead against it in a wordless prayer.

“I have screamed and cried for my life many times before,” he whispered. “It is time I stop hiding and running away and begin fighting properly.”

“But, my lord…” Eddelrittuo said quietly and with a slightly trembling voice.

Slaine raised his head to look over his shoulder with a kind smile – a smile he had clearly not smiled for a very long time according to Eddelrittuo’s surprised expression – and said:

“Are you perhaps worried about me?” He tried to make his words sound slightly teasing to relieve the atmosphere. “You used to glare at me all the time when I was a blood sacrifice, and then I frightened you greatly the other day.”

The handmaiden seemed to be lost in what to say at first. She pressed her small lips together into a thin line and frowned as if she was ashamed of her past treatment of the cursed count.

“That was the past…” she mumbled and closed her eyes as her hands turned into fists. “If I may be so blunt, back then I did not understand what it meant to be a blood sacrifice. After I got to know you, however, I saw how broken you were when Count Saazbaum began to school you. It got me thinking, and – after spending time with you – I began to like the young man you became. You were too good at hiding your emotions back when Count Cruhteo was still alive; I did not understand your situation – any blood sacrifice’s situation to be exact – and kept on loathing you simply because everyone else did. Forgive me…”

Slaine turned around toward her without getting up from the floor, and reached out a hand to hers. Eddelrittuo was about to pull it away but then interrupted her instinct and let him catch her. Carefully, Slaine squeezed her hand and looked at her, still smiling.

“I forgive you,” he answered and met the handmaiden’s relieved eyes. “Some take longer time to develop independent thoughts than others,” he then whispered and smiled. “You did well, Miss Eddelrittuo, and I am grateful for your apology. It makes me feel slightly more like an individual than a monster.”

Tears gathered in the handmaiden’s eyes as grief struck her, and she took his hand in between both of hers and cried:

“You are not a monster, my lord. Please, do not forget that. Resist the curse from draining your heart from all your beautiful colors; a black heart is something you do not deserve. Stay the way you were as the kindhearted young man Princess Asseylum loved, since you should be nothing else than that.” She took a deep and shaky breath. “Keep smiling like this, Slaine…” she whispered. “You are beautiful like this.”

The cursed count stared at her, baffled. Her plea was so comforting he felt a lump form in his throat and he was reminded by the feeling of suffocation. It hurt. It hurt because he knew he could not promise her anything of the sort; his undead heart would become empty and as dark as the shadows where the bedroom monsters dwelled.

‘ _I will become a nightmare_ ,’ he thought and said to the handmaiden:

“Do you know about the different meanings behind roses?” Eddelrittuo blinked her tears away and stared at him baffled. “All colors have different meanings, but a red rose is normally a declaration of love and passion. A white rose signifies innocence and purity.”

Eddelrittuo nodded.

“A pink rose signifies appreciation, and a yellow rose means joy and happiness. A deep-red rose,” she said and looked at Asseylum. “Signifies unconscious beauty, and,” she looked at Slaine with a frown. “An orange rose means desire or fascination.”

The cursed blond was taken aback by her last sentence and felt as if her speaking about an orange rose was a hint at something she was aware of. Ridiculous defiance exploded in the cursed count who felt an urgent need to deny whatever she was trying to tell him, but he quickly found his reason as he could not bear the humiliation in case he accidentally denied something she had not pointed a finger at.

“Indeed. You are quite knowledgeable about roses, Miss Eddelrittuo,” he said and smiled wryly.

“I have been in charge of decorating Princess Asseylum’s chamber, my lord,” the handmaiden said, and Slaine nodded and then let his smile fade.

“And the blue rose?” he asked.

“Unrequited love and miracles,” Eddelrittuo answered.

Slaine nodded and lowered his head as his confidence plummeted once again:

“There is another meaning,” he said quietly. “A blue rose can also mean the impossible.” He looked up at the handmaiden, whose expression had turned serious. “Princess Lemrina told me I am a blue rose,” he continued, and Eddelrittuo’s concerned frown told him fear was billowing in his eyes.

“ _Do you believe in miracles, Miss Eddelrittuo?_ ”

The wind had picked up in strength and the cold was trying to bite his cheeks as he stepped out of the small ship that had taken him to the dock in the harbor. Harklight was behind him, and so was Lemrina.

“ _I do, my lord_ ,” Eddelrittuo’s voice echoed in his mind. “ _I really do. You have come this far; nothing is impossible to you_.”

He gritted his teeth against the cold and activated the heating body suit beneath his burgundy uniform to keep him warm. Warmth began slowly engulfing him and he felt like lying down somewhere soft and comfortable to sleep and deep sleep. Nightmares were not an issue anymore and dreams were a luxury he could no longer enjoy. It was strange how going to sleep as a cursed creature could be the same as dying, and it was stranger how he could miss it once his awakened day had come to an end and he needed to rest. He did not fear that kind of death since he knew he would wake up the next day, but the death the vampires called “the final death” was terrifying in its own right; after that, he would never wake up from the dead again.

‘ _Will I fall asleep for the last time tonight?_ ’ he wondered and turned around to look at the approaching ship that was carrying his opponent to the harbor as well.

Winter was the time of the year when vampires preferred to stay indoors and wallow in the heat from crackling hearths and drink heated blood while covered in warming blankets or sleep with their blood sacrifices in soft beds. It was a time of pure greed and gluttony, sloth and lust; the rest of the deadly sins were shamelessly implemented throughout the year, but the cold during winters was a danger to the cursed society and left them reluctant to move outdoors in the snowy landscapes in an attempt to protect themselves.

Count Marylcian had probably an ulterior motive of having this duel out on the docks of Vladivostok in the middle of December. Slaine suspected the cursed count wanted to use the cold to his advantage since a vampire subjected to freezing temperatures would go stiff and feel mindboggling pain that incapacitated them. Slaine had not had the agonizing pleasure to feel how this particular pain felt to the fullest; he had been protected by the heating suits each time or been dressed with heavy fur coats and layers of clothing. Only his cheeks had been cold, just like now.

He took a deep breath and watched the other count’s ship come to port. His breath turned into a billowing ghost and disappeared somewhere behind him as the winter wind carried it away in between the cargo containers that stood on row behind him. Soon, Count Marylcian emerged on the deck of the ship and glared at Slaine with a disgusting grin on his lips. Count Barouhcruz stood next to him, looking pleased with seeing Slaine at the dock waiting for his opponent.

‘ _If I win this_ ,’ Slaine thought and gritted his teeth as the loud metallic clatter and shriek from the gangway being lowered pierced his ears. ‘ _No one will stand in my way._ ’ Marylcian and Barouhcruz walked down the gangway and paid their respects to the cursed princess by bowing dutifully to her. ‘ _I will get the respect I need_.’ His gaze then met his opponent’s, eyes narrowing. ‘ _And then – slowly but steadily – I will tear Vers down…_ ’ He stood securely as the cursed count walked up to him to loom over him; he was slightly taller than Slaine. The cursed blond stared back at him with determination. ‘ _Until it has to be rebooted with the right person in charge_.’

“I see you made me the honor of not running away, Count Troyard,” Marylcian said with a sneer.

His misty breath disappeared in the wind as well.

Slaine decided not to answer and glowered at him with ill intent, letting the cursed mutt know he had outstayed his welcome. Count Marylcian stared at him for a while before he scoffed and took a step back to prepare himself, announcing:

“Count Barouhcruz has made me the honor of being my witness, and I see your princess herself has come to watch this fated duel. How kind of you, Your Highness.”

He made an obnoxiously dramatic bow to her, just like he always did. Slaine thought it looked like Marylcian was trying to mock the princess, but, according to his memory and Saazbaum’s explanation, he had always been extravagant in his ways to suck up to those of higher status than him and loom over those less fortunate.

“The pleasure is mine, Count Marylcian. Let me welcome you to Vladivostok once again,” Lemrina answered him with a smile, but Slaine could hear a hint of loathing in her voice. “I must, however, question the arena of your choice,” she said and made a gesture over the harbor. “During the winter and in a barren place like this while a storm is picking up, had it not been better to host this battle indoors?”

Slaine listened to the slithering voice of the cursed count say with an exacerbated joyful tone:

“Of course, Your Highness. I ask for your forgiveness for choosing an area affected by weather, but I also believe it would be an ideal place to test our resolve and endurance, and thereby determine who should serve at your side, my princess.” He pulled his fingers through the curly tip of his long and neatly styled bangs and looked prouder than ever. “Since this is about Your Highness’s safety, I believe the level of difficulty is quite appropriate.”

He spoke like a true narcissist who had a need of control. It was ridiculous how he spoke about the matter as if he knew what was best for Lemrina without even considering what thoughts she harbored. She was a royal after all, and it made the cursed blond worried how much value she actually had in Vers. In a way, it made his despicable duties easier in case Lemrina had low value in the eyes of the Versian people, since he needed the nation to still admire their previous princess who was – in secret – yet to return to guide the nation. Lemrina simply served as a tool for him to achieve that, and her value was important only because he needed the people to find their hope and trust in her for the time being. When she had served her usefulness, she would have no value in Vers’ future.

Slaine had strictly told Lemrina to play along with the cursed count no matter how absurd Marylcian’s words were, and she had promised to do as he told her. She was obeying his command and did so perfectly despite her obvious distain toward the cursed man. Slaine needed Marylcian to fight him, and he needed him to lose. If he won this duel, not only would Slaine’s reputation grow but he would also claim Marylcian’s assets and resources; make him even stronger with three territories under his rule; more than any other cursed noble owned.

The cursed mutt turned his sneering eyes to Slaine and said excitedly:

“Let us begin!”

Count Barouhcruz took a couple of steps forward, nearly standing in between Slaine and Marylcian, and looked at both for a couple of seconds to determine if they were ready. His role was to observe and announce the beginning of the duel.

The cursed blond opened his fur coat, revealing the uniform of a count, and Harklight stepped up to take it.

“Good hunting, my lord,” he said silently, and Slaine nodded without releasing his opponent with his gaze.

“The sight of a blood sacrifice putting on airs is offensive to me,” Marylcian said while baring his fangs from the excitement. “In the honor of the noble clans of Vers, I shall exact punishment on the dog threading over its boundaries.”

Slaine stared at him calmly, not lowering himself to the other’s level since he needed to maintain his image that was still fragile. Instead, he announced his reasons to the duel with a determined voice filled with authority, proving to the witnesses he was not intimidated by the cursed count glaring at him:

“Usurping an official post out of self-interest without cause disturbs both order and public peace. As the man in charge of Her Highness’s safety, I shall reprimand you.”

Count Barouhcruz acknowledged both of their reasons and said:

“Before the duel begins, the rules shall be established make both parties aware of the limitations,” the cursed count said. “You are not to disappear from the area. There are no limitations to what weapons to use. The winner of this duel is the one last standing. Understood?” As the both opposing counts nodded, he continued: “This will be a duel between Count Marylcian and Count Troyard, with two official witnesses.” He took one last breath, and, with a misty ghost escaping his lips as well, he exclaimed: “Begin!”

The obnoxious mutt was quick to release his explosive energy by dashing toward Slaine with the speed of a third generation vampire – a generation that perfectly matched the cursed blond’s. Slaine let no seconds go to waste and prepared to meet the cursed mutt’s attack by being light on his feet and keeping an eye on his approaching opponent. Then, as Marylcian threw out a hand to slash against Slaine’s throat, the cursed blond countered it by shoving his opponent’s hand away with a brutal hit to Marylcian’s arm. The sound from their arms colliding was loud and sharp.

Immediately, the cursed mutt hissed with pain and took quick steps back to retry his attack, but Slaine hurried up to him without giving him time to prepare, and aimed a blow against the other’s face. The cursed mutt evaded it with a graceful backflip, and – the moment he landed – he pushed off from the ground and tried to land a kick against Slaine’s head. The cursed blond dodged it and jumped to the side to circle around his enemy.

“You are a slippery devil! I am surprised,” Count Marylcian said amused and turned around to face the bloodthirsty wolf with an excited grin on his prideful face. “But have you met a cursed count before, blood sacrifice? Will you escape a third generation vampire?”

Slaine stayed silent, letting the cursed mutt’s words rain over him without bothering to listen. Instead, his mind spun with what to do to end Marylcian’s miserable undead life. He needed to burn him, crush his head or crush him entirely. Since it was in the middle of the night, there were no sunrays to aid him with destroying his opponent.

He dashed toward the other, leaping up into the air and aimed a sharp heel against Marylcian’s head, but the cursed mutt escaped his attack and Slaine landed with a heavy blow against the pavement, which made him stumble when the impact sent a shock through his legs and spine. He gritted his teeth as the new kind of pain surprised him and barely had time to dodge a kick from Marylcian by rolling out of his way.

They continued attacking, countering and evading each other while the winter cold was ruthlessly trying to cool them both down, but the heating suits kept them warm enough to keep the chills and pain at bay. Their violent movements made their muscles heat up as well, and the fresh blood they had consumed before the battle generated enough energy to keep them moving and protected them from cold.

“Futile, futile! It is futile, blood sacrifice!” the cursed mutt laughed when Slaine had tried to land a series of hits and kicks against the cursed count who had successfully evaded all of them.

Slaine was still rough in his fighting tactics. He admitted he was bad at hand-to-hand combat and preferred to give tactical orders rather than finding himself on the battlefield. Then again, he knew he had to fight face-to-face with his opponents at times; he had to show himself on the battlefields to boost morale and prove his worth to his own soldiers. Marylcian was fast and slightly more experienced, but he had not been fighting like this for a long time. Even if he had the techniques down with kicks and hits, dodges and counterattacks, he was still clumsy, which gave Slaine openings to avoid being knocked down.

The air was cold enough their lungs began to hurt after a while. The air that seeped into their chest – voluntarily or unintentionally – as they moved became painful after just a couple of minutes of fighting. Slaine was taken by surprise as he felt a violent need to cough and protect his airways and lungs from freezing. No matter how warm the cursed creatures were, their bodies had no time to warm up the cold air they breathed in. The cursed blond tried to hold his breath when moving, but – due to the violent nature of his movements – it was impossible to keep his lungs tightly sealed since his body moved in such ways air leaked into his lungs anyway, and Marylcian seemed to feel the effect as well. He coughed now and then and seemed to get tears in his eyes from the irritation.

A sudden wrong movement made Slaine open to Marylcian’s attack, and the cursed count kicked him hard against his back and sent him flying across the dock and slam into a cargo container, leaving a dent in its blue and ruffled steel wall after falling face down against the pavement. It was the first time Slaine felt the horrible pain from bone crackling inside him. His spine, ribs, neck and skull felt like they were suddenly as fragile as porcelain; as he moved, he could clearly feel the broken parts grind against his muscles.

“ARRGH!” he screamed when the pain took him off guard when he tried to get up.

The pain was so new and strange that he growled and grunted, gasped and gritted his teeth as he pushed himself up. His muscles were still strong and compensated for the bones that had been made brittle in the impact, which allowed him to still move, but the pain was initially incapacitating.

He could hear an amused laughter from further away, and he forced his body up from the ground after gathering his resolve after the painful shock. He met the pleased eyes of the proud mutt who looked disgustingly pleased to see the cursed blond in pain. Then, as Slaine stood up and was exposed to the cold winter wind again, he felt his body slowly grow colder. To his horror, he realized the heater in his suit was broken.

He understood he had to end this quickly or he would end up breaking more and be cooled down enough to grow stiff. It was impossible to expect when he would lose enough heat for that to happen, and this uncertainty forced him to act quickly.

“How was your first taste of bone shattering pain, blood sacrifice?!” the cursed mutt yelled with delight. As Slaine got up onto his feet, holding his arm over his stomach to support the pained ribs as he moved while gritting his teeth, the cursed count’s eyes narrowed when he realized Slaine was still up to fight. “So you got up on your feet?” he cursed with a voice protesting against Slaine’s endurance. “Even if you are a third generation vampire, not even you can cope with the dangers of silver!” he yelled as if it was a challenge. “You have yet to learn what this pain means!”

Marylcian hurried over to Barouhcruz and took the cursed man’s gun from the holster beneath the coattails. The cursed count who was robbed of his gun did no resistance, and Slaine hurried to hide behind a container and think of what to do while he listened to Marylcian laugh amused again in the distance, comfortably hiding behind a gun.

‘ _He has a ranged weapon_ ,’ Slaine thought and closed his eyes and leaned his back against the container wall. ‘ _I need a ranged weapon as well_.’

He looked around and saw nothing but container walls. Instead, he hurried over to the corner of the container he hid behind and peeked around it to see if there was anything on the dock that he could use, but had to immediately dodge when a gun went off and a bullet came flying toward him. A loud metallic snap echoed across the area as the bullet grazed the steel corner and disappeared into the darkness.

As he looked around the corner again, he set his eyes on a tool shed. The door looked weak against the force of a cursed creature and Slaine decided he had to get in there. Whatever he could get his hands on would be of more help than nothing.

“Come out here, you coward!” the prideful cursed mutt yelled, probably with a disgusting grin on his lips.

‘ _It’s all right_ ,’ Slaine told himself and prepared to run. ‘ _The silver will hurt, but I can push through it. I just have to hope he won’t hit me where it hurts the most._ ’

The memories of his time in Count Cruhteo’s torture cell came to mind and, suddenly, the pain of silver stopped feeling too frightening; he had been through worse; he had already felt his flesh be cut open and his consciousness slip away from unbelievable pain. What would this winter cold, crackled bones and silver feel like compared to the pain from the past?

‘ _Nothing_ ,’ he vowed and ran out from behind the container and steered his steps toward the tool shed.

The cursed count chasing him fired his gun the moment Slaine emerged from his hiding place, but the cursed blond kept his course without looking over his shoulder. His suit was cooling down to the point his body felt like the uncomfortable feeling was turning into ache. It reminded him about the same kind of pain he had felt as a child when he had been growing.

Bullets bounced from the ground around his feet and a maddened laughter echoed behind him as he ran. He was abruptly freed from the wind after throwing his body against the door to the shed and forced it open with the impact. His bones felt like they crackled even more as he stumbled inside the shed, and tears gathered in his eyes as he looked around in the monochrome darkness.

His eyes landed on a manual chain hoist hanging from a hook in the ceiling, and he decided he had some use of it and took it down. While he was surrounded by tools that had potential to cause harm, he took the opportunity to take a couple of screwdrivers and metal files as well.

The cursed mutt’s frustration could be heard from outside as he moved closer toward the shed while shooting at it. The bullets punctured the thin walls and Slaine gave up on trying dodging them. Luckily, the bullets missed him for now.

To give himself the chance to attack the cursed man, he decided to get out of the shed and push forcefully against his opponent’s defense. The moment he emerged, the cursed count’s eyes widened from surprise before he smiled and aimed straight at Slaine with Count Barouhcruz’ gun. The cursed blond quickly interrupted the opponent’s aim by throwing a screwdriver toward him, which Marylcian evaded easily, and Slaine interrupted his chance once again by throwing another screwdriver while running closer to his target.

The cursed count seemed to grow panicked as he saw Slaine run closer with the chains from the hoist rattling behind him, and hissed from frustration and raised the gun again. Slaine threw a metal file toward the cursed count to feint him, and, after Marylcian jumped to evade the file, Slaine threw a screwdriver that hit his opponent in his knee and pierced through it. The cursed mutt released a pained howl and jumped behind a forklift. From there, he took aim at Slaine again and pulled the trigger a couple of times, which forced Slaine to accept two bullets straight into his stomach and hip. Blood began pouring down his hips from both wounds while he kept running, and the scorching pain from the silver eating his skin made him nearly lose his composure. It felt like acid against his flesh; it sizzled and burned and he could feel the foreign object grind against his bones and muscles.

‘ _Push through!_ ’ he told himself and kept running toward the forklift.

The pain was cruel. It hurt. He wanted to drop everything he held and throw himself to the ground to roll around as if trying to quench a fire. He wanted to scream and cry and dig in his wounds to remove the painful objects, but, despite that, he could stay composed and stick to his attack.

“You should give up, blood sacrifice!” Marylcian yelled from behind the truck and aimed at Slaine again to shoot. He pulled the trigger several times again, but Slaine refused to avert from his course. The cursed blond’s maddened determination seemed to frighten the other, whose expression turned to shock and horror the moment they could see the whites in each other’s eyes. “Are you mad, Count Troyard?!” he yelled instead as three more bullet wounds cut into the young vampire’s torso.

The pain was so horrid at this point that Slaine’s thoughts went entirely silent. He knew what he had to do and knew nothing but that. It was as if his plan had turned into a programmed instinct that made him move forward, fueled by pure willpower. Nothing but bloodthirst existed in his mind. He wanted blood quickly to end this pain; the nightmarish beast inside him was hungry since it was in an urgent need to repair its body. The curse claimed a sacrifice to stay alive and the cursed count shooting at him was the only thing in the cursed blond’s way to be allowed to feed on human blood.

“You inferior scum!” Marylcian exclaimed with a voice that shook with fright as he had stirred the beast chasing him.

His knee must have been wounded enough to make it useless; the cursed count seemed to understand it did not matter if he tried to run; the wolf would gain up to him quickly with a broken knee like that. Even if he tried, the chances for him to move as quickly as Slaine were instantly made smaller despite he could compensate his broken joint with the strength of his muscles, but a knee was a knee; a crucial part of the body that made running possible to begin with. Instead, Marylcian decided to stand his ground with the gun as his weapon – a foolish and panicked decision since the five bullet wounds Slaine already had had not stopped him from attacking. What would a couple of more bullets do? He was a third generation vampire after all; he could withstand the effects of silver more successfully than those of younger generation.

As Slaine reached the forklift, he jumped up onto the top of it and then leapt down in front of the cursed count in hiding. The pain from the silver made his body shake while he spoke from behind gritted teeth:

“Don’t you know, Count Marylcian, that the weakest dogs bark the loudest?” His voice sounded like a hellish growl. “Your barking has become annoying.”

“I will not be bested by the likes of you!” the cursed mutt yelled with panicked fright and anger, and pointed the gun against Slaine’s head. “Who do you think you are, blood sacrifice?!”

As he pulled the trigger, Slaine leapt back to build some distance and avoid the bullet that whistled past his ear. When his opponent pulled the trigger again, Slaine prepared his body to dodge, but, to his relief and to Marylcian’s horror, only a click was heard. Slaine felt his lips curve into a sinister smile as his needlelike teeth tingled from bloodlust at realizing the gun was out of bullets, and he let the chain hoist fall down onto the pavement with a loud and rattling thud while holding the chain in a tight grip.

“How dare you, you stray dog!” the other yelled panicked as Slaine took a step closer while grinning from victory.

Marylcian’s expression told Slaine his eyes had the shine of the devil he had woken up as; the wolf was glaring at its prey with intense hunger.

‘ _How foolish of you to rely merely on a gun_ ,’ he thought and felt violent impulses to attack the other.

“You are bad at choosing your enemies and are greatly mistaken, Count Marylcian; I am not a dog,” he said with the rumbling voice of both delighted victory and pain. “Even when it stands right here before you, you do not hear the wolf growling.”

With a powerful swing with the chain in his hands, he pulled the heavy chain hoist from the ground and up into the air. Within the blink of an eye and with a loud bang, he slammed it against Marylcian who was frozen from terror. The cursed count’s body exploded in a rain of blood, flesh and bone shards, and the pavement crackled from the impact that sent small pieces flying. The chain hoist was blown into pieces, and the chain bounced back up into the air before falling back against the ground.

His opponent was dead but the wolf’s sense of victory was short lived.

“M-my lord!” he heard a familiar voice yell as Slaine finally collapsed onto the ground and began writhing from pain.

The silver scorched him so badly in all the bullet wounds that he finally released a loud scream and clawed at his suit. The fabric was ripped to shreds and he continued to claw against his skin as well, causing deep cuts onto his already scarred skin. The silver buried inside him hurt so badly that now, as the immediate threat – Count Marylcian – was gone, he could not contain his desperation to escape the cause of his pain.

“Count Troyard!” a female voice screamed with horror, and running steps approached him where he lay screaming.

“I know it hurts, my lord, but please keep your composure for a little while and let us take you back to your ship,” he heard Harklight’s voice from somewhere close by.

“T-take them out!” the cursed blond screamed from pain and released a loud growl that rumbled from deep inside him and echoed around on the windy dock.

The cold crawled over him now that his suit had gone cold, and his body began to stiffen. It disabled him from thrashing around and gave him no other choice but to calm down physically.

“The victor…” Count Barouhcruz’ voice said somewhere close by as well, clearly affected by what had happened on the dock. “… is Count Troyard. As an official witness, I certify the outcome of this duel.”

As Slaine was pulled up from the ground and collapsed against Harklight due to pain and stiffening, he heard his servant take a breath to speak. Immediately, Slaine interrupted him and said with a trembling and pained voice:

“In accordance with the law…” A shock of pain coursed through him as he tried to stand strong, and he collapsed against his servant again. “… all of Count Marylcian’s assets … are to be transferred to me; Count Slaine Saazbaum Troyard… That includes his fleet, soldiers and … territory.”

The moment Slaine raised his eyes to look at the cursed count standing before him, he saw clear shock in the other’s eyes. Count Barouhcruz had not expected this duel to end this quickly and with this outcome, and he had no choice but to acknowledge Slaine as one of the cursed nobles. It was also clear on the other’s expression that he feared the cursed blond, since Slaine was now the strongest of all of the cursed nobles in Vers with three entire surface fleets and three submarine fleets under his banner. Slaine was also sure the look in his eyes made the other tremble.

“Do you object, Count Barouhcruz?” Lemrina’s voice said, and the cursed count turned to look at her.

It was clear he wanted to protest against Slaine owning Marylcian’s fleet and territory, but he did not dare to object in the face of the Royal Highness herself, who also had witnessed this battle.

“No, Your Highness,” he finally said after a moment of hesitation. “I acknowledge Count Troyard’s victory and his right to the losing opponent’s assets.”

Slaine threw a glance at the cursed princess, who nodded to him with a serious expression, letting him know she supported him on his quest to step closer to his goal.

“Come, my lord,” Harklight said with a comforting tone and steadied the agonized cursed creature. “I will sacrifice blood to you, and we shall take you to Tharsis where the silver will be removed.”

†††

The winter was cold he thought as he sat on the empty dock of the ship in the early night and gazed at the sea on the other side of the gates to the dry dock where Deucalion lay in slumber. A small box lay in his hand while he dangled his legs over the edge of the flight deck and tried to cope with the dizziness. He felt like he was strangely drunk and it was difficult to form clear and coherent thoughts. Luckily, there was a safety net right below him in case he got too dizzy to stay on board the ship.

The thought made a smile spread on his lips. How silly it was to think like that, as if it was up to him to not fall down while sitting there on the edge of the deck, dangling his legs so carelessly over the dark abyss with a bottom of stone and concrete that would certainly kill him if he fell.

‘ _Why won’t I just move?_ ’ Inaho then thought as the idea just popped up in his mind, and took a deep breath and shuffled back to sit safely on the asphalt a meter away from the edge. There, he curled up while squeezing the small box of pills with his fingers. His gloves lay in his pocket; he had not bothered to put them on. ‘ _These were stronger than I expected_ ,’ he then thought and shifted his eyes from the dark sea to the small box. ‘ _If I’m not careful, I might make bad decisions under the influence of these…_ ’

The small box contained a psychotropic drug that calmed anxiety and restlessness, and they were classified as narcotics due to their habit-forming danger. It had not taken a lot of persuasion to make Dr. Yagarai prescribe him these pills, since all he had needed to do was to tell him he got severe anxiety attacks whenever he was reminded about the rape in Vladivostok. It was a cheap lie but effective either way; the topic of sexual abuse on a young man was perceived so sensitive by the psychologist that Inaho simply had to ask for the medication without much explanation.

His true intention was not to calm any form of anxiety since what happened in Vladivostok was not charged with anxiousness one bit; he had finally – after a painful start – been allowed to be intimate with someone he cared about and even loved romantically. Inaho did not mind what Slaine had done to him because the end of it all had been nothing but pleasurable despite the pain.

‘ _I forgave him the moment he began crying_ ,’ the brunet thought and felt his body sway as a wind took hold of his jacket and scarf. He ended up falling onto his back and stared at the clear starry sky above. ‘ _I want to do it again_ ,’ he then thought and saw the silver-crowned prince’s beautiful face in front of him the way he had seen it when their bodies had united. ‘ _I want to feel him again. I want to make him feel good and see and hear him feel me._ ’ A longing breath escaped him and the moistness of it brushed his cheeks before it disappeared in the wind. ‘ _Slaine… I can’t wait to see you again._ ’

He felt oddly lonely, as if he had discovered his life was incomplete the moment he had been separated from Slaine. It was strange, he thought, since he had never shown interest in physical intimacy before. Now, he felt like he understood Calm’s obsessive curiosity in sex, and he smiled while staring at the twinkling stars.

The medication he had taken made his mind hazy and strange impulses surged through him. It was as though he had lost his inhibitions because of it. He was peaceful and calm with a body as heavy as stone. It felt good.

“Slaine…” he mumbled and sighed and decided to close his eyes.

He coiled his arms around him, hugging his soft and warm jacket and felt his own touch through it. It reminded him about how Slaine’s forceful hands had grabbed him, how he had caressed him and pulled at his clothes. Even if it had been a fearful moment at first because of the aggressive nature of the situation, it had soon turned into a thrill he longed to feel again.

Carefully, he squeezed his sides over his ribs. It was as if Slaine was there touching him. Then he moved his hands to his hips and squeezed them as well, imagining Slaine’s hands being there rather than his own. He sighed. The memory of how it had felt when the cursed prince had commanded him to open his uniform for him to invite him in made Inaho grit his teeth; he had been so helpless in that moment. It thrilled him to remember it. His thoughts went on to the next memory of when the vampire ruling over him had pulled his uniform down and then proceeded with removing his thermal clothing beneath, and the chill against his naked skin made itself reminded. After that, Slaine had pulled the brunet’s underwear down and exposed him entirely. Inaho had never been as vulnerable before in his entire life as he had been with Slaine hovering over him, pushing into his body to conquer him and own him.

“Hahhh…” he sighed and let his hands wander down between his legs.

He felt hot despite the cold. His loins tingled at remembering back to Vladivostok, and it thrilled him incredibly to know he would soon be reunited with Slaine again. Perhaps, when that happened, he would be allowed to show the silver-crowned prince how it felt to be that vulnerable before a gentle enemy. He wanted Slaine to feel like that as well with him and only him since that feeling was precious; to be vulnerable before a loved one.

He could not resist the sudden urge to bury his hand inside his thermal clothing and wrap his cold fingers around his heat. It felt like Slaine’s undead hands but only a little colder. They would soon warm up as his heat increased, and he began moving his hand while thinking about Slaine, and an intoxicatingly sweet sensation spread from his loins and out into his body. Perhaps a month or two would pass before he got to see him again, and, in that moment, he would expose his neck to him and let him claim a sacrifice of blood. That blood would be tainted by the medication that made Inaho’s mind spin at the moment, but, once they would meet again, Inaho would have built up a tolerance to it and not seem affected at all, fooling the other it was safe to bite him.

‘ _I will catch you, Slaine_ ,’ he thought and released a quiet groan from pleasure. ‘ _And when I do…_ ’

“Ahh…” he gasped whispering. “Mmmh…!”

‘ _Slaine…! Slaine!_ ’ he thought with his hand moving faster between his legs while squeezing his hardened flesh until it hurt slightly. ‘ _I can’t wait to see you_.’

His free hand moved up to his neck beneath his scarf and rubbed the left side of it, and he scratched it as it began tingling. Soon, he would let Slaine bury his fangs into his neck, and even that excited him. He imagined how Slaine’s bite would feel, and he tried simulating it by adding force into his scratches and clawed at his skin. It increased the pleasure and he released a quiet moan into the cold and lonely night. He hoped the silver-crowned prince’s bite would feel much more pleasurable than now. Rayet’s bite came to mind and he pictured the wet noise of her lips parting and her moist breath against his neck. An electrifying shiver ran through his spine when he tried to apply that to his future encounter with Slaine, and the excitement made his hips move while he pumped his carnal pleasure that had hardened to the point it throbbed in his hand.

‘ _I want him to bite me…_ ’ he thought and imagined Slaine’s hand forcing his head aside to expose his neck, and he turned his head to the side and rested his right cheek against the flight deck’s asphalt. The fantasy along with his nails clawing at his exposed neck made him groan as it shocked him with lust. ‘ _Slaine…!_ ’

“Haagh!”

His body jerked as he reached climax and a hot and sticky sensation spread in his underwear and smeared over his hand buried between his legs. The climax had been mindboggling and his breaths were rough and deep for a while before he gathered his senses and pulled his hand from his pants. It was sticky. He decided to wipe it against his gloves he had in his pocket and would wash them later before returning to his bunk bed.

A couple of minutes passed and he stared at the starry sky once again, much more satisfied than before, and felt the cold begin crawling through his clothes. He pushed his sluggish body up from the deck and took a deep breath before he was interrupted by a cheery voice somewhere behind him:

“I’ve been searching for you everywhere!” It was Inko’s voice and it sounded like she had no idea of what Inaho had just done, making the brunet feel somewhat relieved since he had no wish to explain his recent activity to her. “You couldn’t sleep?”

“No,” the brunet answered and looked up at her with his usual expression.

Or so he thought.

“You okay?” Inko asked instead and sat down next to him while looking at him curiously. “You look exhausted.”

Inaho shook his head.

“Not really,” he answered and revealed the small box of medication to her. “The effect of these was much stronger than I anticipated.”

Inko looked at the box and then back up at him with a confused expression.

“You’re high?” she asked surprised and raised her eyebrows. “What are they?”

“Anxiolytic medication,” the brown-haired boy answered. “I got them from Dr. Yagarai.”

“What?” the innocent looking girl asked with shock and stared at him troubled. “Will you be okay? I didn’t know you were that anxious about this war that you need medication!”

Inaho had to keep his intention with the medication a secret and play along to protect his secret. He could not risk anyone to interfere with his plan of capturing Slaine. If it got known he was taking drugs simply to build up a tolerance in order to taint his blood, the medication would be taken from him immediately since it was highly addictive. If Inaho was careless, he would risk needing treatment to get rid of the possible addiction and become a strain on the already busy and compromised healthcare system.

“I’ll be okay,” the brunet lied. “The attack in Vladivostok took its toll on me. I get psychological help as well, so don’t worry.”

Inko did not seem calmer; she stared at him with increasing worry before she quietly said:

“You shouldn’t fight anymore. You’ve done enough.”

Inaho shook his head, which made him lose his balance and had to support himself against his arms.

“I have to keep going. We’re almost there, Inko.”

“Almost there?” the girl asked upset. “How can you possibly know that? We’re on the brink of becoming cattle. We’re losing resources in a rapid pace and are pushed into a corner by the cursed creatures. They’re suffocating us by interrupting our shipping lines and we are constantly outnumbered or overwhelmed by their forces.”

“Keep faith,” the brunet answered calmly. Even if he wanted to, it was impossible to become upset. “Just a little more and we’ll be all right.”

The girl next to him went quiet and turned her eyes to the dark sea outside the dry dock’s gates. They sat there quietly for a while, while the wind played with their hair.

“This is unusual of you, Inaho,” she suddenly said, and the brown-haired boy turned his gaze to her. “Usually, you speak of things in a logical and rational way and place everything like chess pieces on a board, but now you speak about faith and wishful thinking.”

Inaho blinked from surprise. Did she know something she was not supposed to?

“Inko-“ he began but was interrupted by his childhood friend:

“Something’s going on, am I right?” she asked.

She was more observant than he had expected her to be.

“Inko, I’m sorry,” he said quietly as he decided to push her back into the line she had just stepped out of. “I don’t want to involve you in anything dangerous. Don’t ask anymore.”

His childhood friend glared at him, clearly offended by his rejection of giving her more information, and she pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly.

“Jerk… I’m worried for you,” she mumbled, and they both went silent.

‘ _I’m sorry, Inko…_ ’ the brunet thought and decided to not interfere with the silence they sunk into.

It would be too dangerous to involve Inko in his plans. She was a human girl; no one of power that would serve any purpose in his plan of freeing Count Marylcian and capturing Slaine. She should stay on board Deucalion and do what she could from the ship and leave the rest to the grownups and to those of strength, such as Inaho and Rayet. She would waste her life on the battlefield because she was no match to a vampire.

Inaho registered running steps in the silence, and a quiet whirr of spoken words from a radio speaker followed. Three people were approaching him and Inko from behind.

“Oi!” they heard a young male voice behind them, and Calm, Nina and Rayet hurried up to them. “Listen to this! Something insane is going on in Vers!”

The westerner held out the radio, from where the voice of Vers’ princess was heard:

“ _In conclusion, I wish to inform you clans of cursed nobles and our people of the new chapter in our motherland’s history. I, Lemrina Vers Envers, will now claim the throne and become the royal representative of our nation. With that, new policies will be adopted_.”

“What?!” Inko exclaimed.

Inaho turned to look at Rayet, who stared back at him with concern.

“ _We, who have acquired new lands and resources across the globe, with USA and NATO losing their long battle against our mighty military and EU that is finally crumbling, do not need to rely on our limited blood resources from our small colonies of blood sacrifices forever. Children eventually grow up and they must leave their mothers’ protection and strike out on their own, and I have decided Vers needs to leave our former emperor’s totality and change into a nation serving its people and not the other way around. I, Lemrina Vers Envers, as the new ruler of Vers, will take Count Slaine Saazbaum Troyard as my husband, and proclaim that I shall change Vers’ archaic feudal system into a democratic monarchy once this war is over and the world has fallen into our cursed creatures’ hands_ ,” the cursed woman said with incredible power in her voice.

Inaho’s chest felt hot and anger boiled up out of nowhere. Slaine would marry the cursed princess who had proclaimed herself a queen over Vers. That meant he would become a king.

‘ _I can’t have that_ ,’ the brunet thought. ‘ _He belongs to me!_ ’

“ _Together, we shall end our starvation and eradicate the injustice of the former Vers. I call for our people and our noble clans to make this dream a reality. End this war in Vers’ favor, and I shall give you – the people – the power to decide your own future by handing over the power to your representatives._ ”

The small gang on deck was completely silent the moment the transmission ended. Nothing but the wind whined around them and made their clothes billow. They all knew Vers had become strong enough to push through a system like that once the war was over, and they all knew they were in greater danger than ever before. The queen’s message to her people would rile them up, and a harsh battle was to come where every human that was captured would become a blood sacrifice to whoever captured them.

‘ _I have to stop him!_ ’ the brunet thought and squeezed his hands into fists. ‘ _This is what he told me to do; he told me to stop him before he becomes unstoppable._ ’


	35. Here to There – The Flaw in Paradise

Gunshots were heard across the area and panicked screams drifted in the cold winter wind. It was cold behind the container even if he was properly bundled up. The darkness of night helped him and his companion melt into the shadows cast by the strong headlights on the dock.

“ _Ensign Kaizuka and Ensign Areash! Intercept the prisoner and recapture him!_ ” the order of their captain said in the headphones with a stressed voice.

“We’re on it,” Rayet answered with her usual nonchalant tone that expressed little respect to the manners of speaking to an officer.

“Ensign Kaizuka and Areash heading out, Captain” the soon to be young man answered to his captain, but neither he nor his companion made a move. “Did we give him enough?” the brunet asked the cursed girl instead after releasing the throat microphone’s call button, and hurried to hide behind the container corner as a group of Chinese soldiers ran down the dock, headed toward the ship where the tumult was played out in a what sounded like a fierce battle.

“Yeah,” the red-haired girl answered quietly. She was dressed in a heating suit to protect her from the cold. “Two bags of blood are more than enough. I doubt he needs all of it, but I hope he saved the other bag in case he needs to heal some wounds.”

Inaho nodded to acknowledge what Rayet told him and then peeked out from behind the corner again when the coast was clear.

“Meet up with him when he comes down the gangway. I’ll go prepare the car and turn the lights off on the dock. Bring him to the car,” he said and got a pat on his shoulder from the cursed girl before sneaking away down the dock and toward the control panel for the lights.

Everywhere around him people yelled in panic about a cursed count being loose on board the ship, and the sound from different kind of guns went off somewhere behind him as he sneaked away from Deucalion. He had prepared in beforehand earlier that day by taking a stroll down the dock and harbor area to map it out in his mind, and found where the power switches were for the headlamps placed out over the dry dock where Deucalion lay in repair.

With light feet and with his senses on highest alert, he reached the control panel mounted on a wall on the observation tower without being seen, and opened the hatch to reveal the switches. A large grey lever marked out the main switch, and he pulled it down. All lights connected to the powerlines that went into the panel went off and the deck was covered with darkness that instantly lay down heavily over the area. Surprised voices yelled form behind him, and Inaho took a hold of the large cable at the bottom of the panel and ripped it out to prevent the lights from being turned on again.

As he continued down the harbor, toward where a car Rayet had managed to get a hold of stood waiting, he hid behind containers, trucks, forklifts, cargo boxes and other large objects that lay on his way, and then reached the vehicle. He unlocked the doors and put the keys into the ignition switch, and waited outside the car. A large bag lay on the backseat with everything the cursed count would need on his journey; Inaho and Rayet had prepared it during the day.

It was the night after the cursed princess’s – or should he say cursed queen’s? – transmission. Jealousy was still burning in the brunet’s chest and he felt agitated and stressed out. He had decided to put his plan into work much earlier than planned, all because of the cursed blond climbing the hierarchy faster than expected. It had pushed the brunet to alter his plan all together; he could not accompany the cursed count and take him to the harbor because he had not had the time to plan everything properly, leaving him with no choice but to let the cursed count handle his journey on his own. Inaho had to be honest and admit the jealousy had played a large role in this stressful decision as well, and it had been the first thing to initiate this chaotic situation that was ongoing on the ship and dock.

Count Mazuurek had gotten two bags of blood from Inaho, which Rayet had stolen from the blood bank on board. The blood she fed on was mostly expired blood bags from the hospital bay since they were good enough for a vampire to feed on, and, this time, she had taken more than she actually needed without registering the amount anywhere. Since she was pretty much a crewmember on the ship, people had stopped bothering with keeping an eye on her a long time ago. She had then given the blood bags to the brunet, who had hid them beneath his sweater, who had then given them to the cursed count and explained the plan under the fake role of an interrogator. That way, no one raised suspicion toward him since he pretended to do what he had been ordered to; to interrogate the prisoner.

Inaho had to trust Mazuurek’s strength and skills to fight himself out of the ship alone and get onto the dock. He was a third generation vampire after all. Silver was a lesser issue than on someone of a younger generation, and his strength, speed and senses should allow him to push through whatever barricades and defenses the human soldiers tried to put up.

To his relief, he saw Rayet and Mazuurek come running down the dark dock toward the car after several minutes. The cursed count’s expression was frighteningly bestial, as if he was high on the thrill of a fight. His eyes gleamed in the small lights from independent light sources around the dock and blood trickled down his burgundy uniform, making it even deeper in its red color. He was probably wounded and under a lot of stress.

“Hurry,” Inaho said and opened the door for Mazuurek. “There’s no time for words. Just get away from here and get to Vladivostok as soon as possible. Watch out for the border guards. Remember: Find a handmaiden called Eddelrittuo. She knows where princess Asseylum is held.”

Mazuurek nodded and got in the car, and Inaho threw the door closed and stepped back to stand next to Rayet. He exchanged a quick glance with the vampire count, who then turned the key in the ignition switch and pushed down the gas pedal and disappeared down the road.

“Thanks,” Inaho said to the cursed girl next to him before turning to look at her. She looked distressed. “You did great.”

“Tell me,” she said quietly and stared at him without blinking. Her words turned into mist, just like Inaho’s. “Why did you ask me to help you with this?”

Inaho blinked surprised.

“What do you mean?” he wondered and waited for her reply.

“Didn’t you think that I would kill him for being one of the cursed nobles? You haven’t forgotten about what I think about them, right? Remember what I did to your princess?” she said and seemed somewhat agitated.

Inaho turned to walk toward the dock again, and she followed.

“In the end, you didn’t actually kill her back then,” the burnet then said after a couple of steps. “And she’s not my princess.”

He heard Rayet scoff.

“Yeah. I failed to kill her,” she muttered. “I’m just like the other cursed creatures, you know? I kill those I hate – or at least I try to. You have probably heard it before, but we cursed creatures think little of the life of others. The curse does something to you once you turn.”

She sounded somewhat sorrowful despite she was trying to sound brave and confident. Inaho did not entirely understand why she had a need to act like this; to provoke him by letting him know how much of a cursed creature she actually was, but he had a hunch that she hated herself for being a vampire, and that she clumsily expressed her hate toward herself by speaking nonsense about the fact that she was one of those who showed little to no concern for the life of non-eternal beings.

“You’re different, Rayet,” the brunet said, and was instantly countered with a:

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are,” he insisted, and she insisted back:

“No, I’m not! Why do you think I agreed to work as your partner to begin with during the hunt of cursed-?!”

“Yes, you are,” Inaho said slightly louder, interrupting his friend and colleague. His tone of voice silenced the cursed girl and allowed him to continue: “You’re not the same person you were back then. You were quick to act according to your emotions then – probably after losing your father in a horrific way – but I think you have learned to look beyond that. You’re a good person, Rayet, even if you are a cursed creature. That is why I asked you to help me.”

She stared at him from the corner of her eye but jumped when a transmission came through:

“ _This is Captain Magbaredge calling Ensign Kaizuka Inaho and Areash Rayet_.”

“This is Ensign Kaizuka,” Inaho answered.

“ _What is your status?_ ”

“The target got away, Captain,” the brunet said and exchanged a glance with Rayet, who had tears in her eyes. “I and Miss Areash are returning to Deucalion after the chase.” When he released the throat microphone, he turned to look at the cursed girl who seemed to be on the verge of crying, and said: “You really are different, Rayet. You helped me free Count Mazuurek, and that in turn will lead to a better future for all of us. Thank you. I want you to assist me a little more.”

“Idiot…” she muttered, and they walked the rest of the way to Deucalion in silence.

†††

“My lord,” someone said gently close by. The warmth engulfing him tried to pull him back to the inanimate state he was woken up from by the soft voice. “Wake up, my lord. It is time to claim your sacrifice.”

A warm hand brushed down his neck and caressed his shoulder and, when he forced his eyes to open, he met the tired gaze of his blood sacrifice close to his face. Harklight watched him with gentleness, the same way he had done the past two days after the duel with the cursed mutt whose name had begun disappearing from his memory; Slaine could not bother to remember it.

The servant’s face was pale from blood loss. Slaine had maintained the healing effect from the blood from the blood banks he had consumed right after the duel by feeding on Harklight a couple of times a day. The manservant must have lost a little more than half a liter of blood by now; he looked exhausted. Despite that, he was willing to give his master more.

When he blinked and opened his eyes again in an attempt to clear his mind, Slaine noticed he was lying naked in the human young man’s embrace, tightly snuggled against his shoulder and chest. A pleasant shiver ran down his spine and he trembled at feeling the intoxicating human warmth comfort him while he was healing. Harklight must have held him throughout the entire night again after sacrificing more than his blood for his master the evening before.

‘ _I should stop asking for his body_ ,’ the cursed blond thought and pushed himself up from Harklight’s arms to watch the human young man lying on the bed. ’ _His blood… His warmth, emotions and carnal satisfaction… I’m nothing but a parasite like this. I have to stop._ ’

“No, Harklight,” Slaine said quietly and sighed as the pain from the deepest bullet wound felt uncomfortable; he had not healed entirely yet from the damages made by silver. Even if two days had passed since the duel, and even if his body was mostly back to normal, two wounds were still uncomfortable enough he wished to stay in bed as much as possible. “I have asked more than I should from you. Take the day off and stay in bed. You should recuperate from your sacrifices.”

He felt somewhat determined this was the right thing to do. He and Harklight needed to return to the normal relationship of a master and a servant. If Slaine kept on leeching on the human young man like this – by asking for blood, warmth and sex – he would drain the other emotionally as well as trample on his own honor. The cursed blond had turned ugly like this. He was disgustingly clingy, revoltingly needy and horribly dishonored by his own hand…

The moment he moved toward the edge of the bed, however, a warm hand grabbed a hold of his wrist to stop him from getting up. When he turned to look behind him, Harklight stared at him with a shocked expression, telling Slaine he did not mind if he was used by him as long as the cursed blond stayed by his side.

‘ _I ensnared him…_ ’ Slaine thought and frowned. ‘ _He doesn’t want us to return to normal…_ ’

“I think you should have some more blood so you can heal and be strong before you start the war with China,” the human young man said. He caressed the dark mark after the bullet on Slaine’s hip that looked like a spot of tissue that had gone into a state of necrosis – his warm fingertips tickling the vampire’s sensitive skin. “Come back to bed, my lord. You should rest some more before you go back to work.”

‘ _I can’t deny him this since I can’t have him turn on me out of spite_ ,’ Slaine thought with paranoia slithering in his mind, warping his thoughts in a similar manner as the curse did; he was powerless against the paranoia, unable to stop the course it took to warp his mind into believing the paranoid thoughts were nothing but truth, which amplified the belief into a delusion – constantly spiraling his perception of reality faster and faster out of control.

Even if Harklight probably would stay loyal either way, Slaine’s delusion made him think he should not take any risks. While he thought he was giving into Harklight’s humble request for the sake of strategically keeping him loyal, he wondered if he gave in partly because he wanted to keep leeching on him like the disgusting parasite he had become, using his paranoia as a valid reason to hurt the other by taking everything the blood sacrifice had without giving anything back.

“Are you sure?” Slaine asked quietly, and Harklight nodded and pulled him closer by the hand holding the cursed count’s wrist.

“I am, my lord. Please, take whatever you need from me,” he said with a warm and silent voice, looking at his master with loving eyes. “You sacrifice everything to end this war,” he continued as Slaine gave in and followed Harklight’s daring hand. The cursed count straddled his servant’s naked hips and looked down at the gently smiling young man: “As your blood sacrifice, I should do the same. I should sacrifice everything I have in order for you to reach your goal.”

‘ _Perhaps you were the one who ensnared me…_ ’ Slaine thought and leaned closer to his blood sacrifice’s neck. Harklight’s hands caressed him up to his neck from the cursed blond’s hips, and buried the warm fingers in his hair to guide his master to his exposed neck. ‘ _With your willingness and warmth, gentleness and with the pleasure you give. I can’t say no anymore…_ ’

Slaine licked the human young man’s neck to wet it before he would bite into it, and, as the angle of his body changed by leaning down, he could feel the servant’s bare passion grow between their legs. Was a vampire’s bite this exciting, Slaine wondered? Harklight had reacted the same way a while back in the sauna on board the Akula submarine.

It was strange, since Slaine could only remember the bite of a cursed creature as frightening – if not terrifying – and painful because of his life being sucked out of him quite literally. He had always been little in the hands of cursed creatures back when he had been a blood sacrifice; he had been a young boy who had grown up to fear the cursed creatures, who had always chased him or claimed him without any consideration for how he perceived the situation – handling him like a worthless slave. No one had ever been gentle with him during his short career as a blood sacrifice.

‘ _Except Asseylum…_ ’ he thought before he felt the sweetness of Harklight’s blood spread in his mouth. ‘ _If she can be gentle with humans, then I want to believe other vampires can that as well. It’s just about changing cultural perspectives and education._ ’

The warm blood was so refreshing and reviving, vivid with vitality and greatly satisfying that he wanted to consume it again and again. Harklight truly took care of the quality of his blood since Slaine could feel the curse vibrate joyfully in his defiled body, unlike when he consumed the blood from the blood banks.

Before Harklight lost his will to Slaine’s venom, he released a pleasured moan and brushed his lips against Slaine’s ear and gasped. It sent and shock of lust down the cursed blond’s spine. It reminded him about how Inaho – Orange – had sounded like a couple of weeks ago. The brunet had willingly given up his body for the vampire the moment he had coaxed Slaine’s human self back from the abyss of the curse. He had behaved similar to Harklight by offering him his body as comfort while telling him he loved him. The brunet’s voice and expression became stronger in the cursed count’s mind, and Slaine felt his own heat respond to the brunet’s unusual sacrifice and stiffen.

‘ _This is so warped_ ,’ he thought and released Harklight’s neck after a couple of gulps. ‘ _It’s like both Harklight and Inaho are happy to slowly die in my hands_.’ He raised his newly revived body up to look at the servant who lay beneath him with empty eyes and calm breathing. ‘ _Do they want me to own them?_ ’

“Harklight,” he said quietly and reached his hands down between his legs to take a hold of the blood sacrifice’s hardened flesh and raised his own hips slightly to guide the hot tip to his entrance between his buttocks. Slowly and gently, he then lowered his hips and pushed the servant’s lust into him and grinded his hips against Harklight’s to bury the human heat as deep inside him as it would go. The remnants of Harklight’s semen from the evening before made the insertion smooth. “Haaahhh…” he sighed, and leaned his head back for a while to let the warmth spread inside him and heat up his undead flesh. “I am so sorry…” he then continued and raised his head to look at the human young man again. His body shivered from the pleasurable warmth and he gathered his senses before he began moving his hips, raising them up and then pushing back down onto Harklight’s flesh. “I will hurt you … mhh … if you keep offering yourself to me … aaahhh…” the vampire moaned and gasped with tears in his eyes. “… this willingly… Aahh! Y-you should … care about yourself a little … more…”

The cursed creature riding the human young man’s hips was slowly loosing strength as the warmth made him feel like melting. He hated how weak he became in contact with human heat. It felt mortifying to have such a useless weakness, and he was sure it had to do with his past in a world where only cold hands had handled him for many years. To think that he still had not gotten used to someone else’s heat. How long had it been now since Harklight began to take care of him?

‘ _Two years ago…_ ’ he thought as he remembered it was in the middle of December now. ‘ _I still react like it’s my first time feeling human warmth each time a human touches me_.’

He kept moving his hips in a slow pace to make sure he could feel Harklight properly. He gasped and moaned, shivered and grinded the servant’s hot flesh against the sweet spot deep inside him. The sensation was so pleasurable he licked his lips and smiled seductively while looking at the human beneath him. His hips began to heat up from the human warmth and friction, and his mind became hazy from the intoxication. Without understanding it at first, he bit his lower lip until his left fang punctured his skin and blood trickled down his chin. Then, as he realized he was bleeding, he stopped moving his hips and grabbed the duvet to dry his blood on it to protect his servant from being cursed in case of an accident.

“My … lord…?” he heard Harklight gasp, and Slaine lowered the duvet from his lip and stared at the young man who had woken up from the venom.

He looked even more exhausted now than before.

“You should have some water,” Slaine said quietly and reached for the bottle of water standing on the bedside table and offered it to his servant. He sat patiently and waited for Harklight to finish drinking while keeping the human man’s passion buried inside him all the way to the hilt. When Harklight had finished, he took the bottle and placed it back onto the table, and then looked at the servant while studying his tired expression. “You just lie there,” the vamp in him then whispered to his willing prey while caressing the human’s chest and stomach with a playful finger. “Let me do the work.”

He began moving his hips, up and down and then back up again. The thrusting was slow and seductive and he kept staring at Harklight’s lusty expression while smiling from the pleasure surging in him. The servant did not resist him. He simply lay there obediently and let Slaine do whatever he wanted with him for a while, but, once Harklight’s pleasure became restless, he reached his hands to take a hold of Slaine’s hipbones, braced his legs against the mattress and gave the vampire a forceful thrust with his hips. Their bodies slammed together, creating a loud and obscene noise, and he repeated it again, and again … and again.

“HAAGHHH! H-Harklight!” Slaine exclaimed in surprise when the blood sacrifice’s hardness forced his flesh apart as it thrust deep into him, hard enough Slaine’s body jerked upwards from the firm thrusts. He was quickly pulled down by Harklight’s hands grasping him on his hips. “T-that’s too- Aaaahhh! Mmmhh!”

The vampire count’s eyes glazed over and he threw his head back, unable to focus on anything because of the increased pleasure that tortured him. His mouth released moans, cries and groans each time Harklight pushed up into him, and his soft and silky hair danced and bounced along with the thrusts. It felt so good he could not contain the pleasure and, weakly, he raised his hands to grab his hair and pull at it before one hand slipped down to his neck to scratch his scarred skin from his time as a blood sacrifice. He was completely in the servant’s mercy, unable to know what to do with himself.

“You are so … aaaghh … handsome … and beautiful…” Harklight moaned while sweat began pearling down his temples, chest and stomach.

Slaine stared at him with nearly closed eyes; the pleasure forced into him made it impossible to focus on anything but he tried desperately to look into Harklight’s eyes to see him watching him. As it turned out impossible, he let his weak body drop forward to hover above the human man while leaning against his arms. The musky human smell attacked his nostrils, making Slaine feel even more intoxicated than before, and, finally, their eyes locked onto each other’s.

“I’m sorry… Haaghhh! Aahhh!” he moaned with slurred words, drunk from the warmth and pleasure.

‘… _but I don’t see you like that; you just make me feel good, and I’m sorry_ …’

“N-no… Mmmh!” Harklight moaned and raised his hand to Slaine’s cheek. “There is nothing … aahhh … to be s-sorry for…”

Slaine was sure Harklight had no idea why he had asked for forgiveness, but he had no time to explain himself. The servant pulled him down toward him, ready to kiss him, and Slaine covered his own mouth and pulled up from his blood sacrifice from sudden panic.

“W-we can’t,” he said quietly, his voice dripping with lust and mixing with worry. “I’m bleeding…”

“It matters not,” Harklight whispered and stopped thrusting, and that was when Slaine understood the human young man wanted to be cursed; no one would say that unless they yearned for the gift of the curse.

‘ _Just like me when I was a blood sacrifice…_ ’ he thought shocked and then shook his head and frowned. ‘ _Since when?_ ’

“No, Harklight,” he said quietly. “It matters. Don’t ask me to curse you.”

The blood sacrifice frowned and Slaine saw his younger self in the man’s eyes. For how long had Harklight wished for the curse?

‘ _I’m sorry to deny you this, but I can’t curse you; you deserve better than that…_ ’

“Forgive me, my lord,” the servant whispered and raised his hands to brush his master’s sides and then wrap his arms around his torso to pull him back down. “I went too far…”

“H-Harklight,” Slaine began to say, but the servant interrupted him by thrusting back into him while squeezing his arms around the vampire’s torso to hug him close. “Aaahhh! Aahh! H-Harklight! Sto- AAAGH!” he exclaimed, but the man thrusting into him with firm movements gave him no opportunity to look at him or say anything else; Harklight was terrified of meeting his master’s gaze. Slaine grabbed the young man’s shoulders and buried his face into the crook of his servant’s neck as the pleasure coursed back into him and the warmth weakened him. He lay obediently on top of his servant, who kept thrusting his heat into him with forceful thrusts. “Mmh!”

As the sound of their bodies slamming together filled the room, and their moans and lustful cries mixed in-between the bodily noises, Slaine felt the scent of human tears drift to the blood sacrifice before something wetted his cheek.

‘ _You’ve longed for the curse for a while now_ ,’ he determined when Harklight’s tears wetted his cheek and hair. He raised a hand to his servant’s other cheek and caressed it. ‘ _I’m sorry… Don’t feel like you did something wrong…_ ’

A realization hit him and it weighed heavily on his undead heart as it settled in his mind: This time, he had denied Harklight something he yearned for without paranoia mixing up his thoughts like earlier when he had given in to Harklight’s lust. In the end, no matter what he pretended his reasons were for leeching on those around him, he understood he was nothing but selfishly using the few he had believed mattered to him. None of them mattered to him at all. Not Lemrina nor Eddelrittuo, and not even Harklight. They were people he would not sacrifice much for since he was incapable of empathizing with others without knowing why. Only Asseylum mattered to him that was outside his own self. Everybody else was merely tools to satisfy his own needs to survive. He was hungry for others’ sacrifices that also kept him alive.

To determine if he was selfish because of his history or because of the curse was impossible, since he could not distinguish his current self from his former self anymore. He had forgotten the experience of his former life that had been replaced with the experience of the curse.

‘ _Was I always this ugly?_ ’ he wondered and silently begged for Harklight’s forgiveness.

†††

“You really think she’ll be able to do it?” Nina asked and stabbed one of the small tomatoes on her salad plate. It tried to roll away, almost in a panicked manner, but Nina quickly and skillfully skewered it with the fork. It looked somewhat brutal due to her determined look in her eyes and a sadistic smile on her glossy lips.

“To change Vers’ feudal system into a democratic one?” Calm, who sat next to her, asked. His coveralls was covered with oil spots after working hard with the aircrafts in the hangar. “Bah! I doubt this _Queen_ Envers can wipe her own ass, let alone make a great change in the political system in a nation that has lived on injustice for so long.”

“I wonder,” Inko mumbled and took a bite of the pizza piece in her hand. “She is marrying that Troyard after all,” she then said after chewing and swallowing the bite. “He seems like a fiery personality who might be able to push her through obstacles.”

Inaho sat with his friends in the canteen, eating a well filled pizza as dinner. The topic of conversation was unsurprisingly the new democratic kingdom of Vers, and everyone on board expressed their thoughts about the matter wherever the brunet went. It was like it was impossible to escape the topic, probably because it was terrifying news. The people of Vers were already mobilizing to act according to their new queen’s orders, willingly sacrificing their undead life in thirst for justice.

“I don’t think so,” Inaho said, helpless to stop his urge to interfere and set things straight. Not even the anxiolytic pill’s effect helped to calm that down, and his reason was somewhat muddled by the tranquilizing sensation and limited his understanding of consequences. He was slowly loosing appetite and his heart began to burn with jealousy again. “He’s had luck and nothing else, and he knows this. I doubt he plans to continue adding fuel to the fire in this chaos surrounding him for much longer.”

His friends stared at him – everyone except Rayet who leaned leisurely against her elbow on the table and slurped blood through a straw stuck in the bag of blood in her hand. It was all that was heard around their table for a short while.

None of the humans in the area were bothered by her drinking blood so openly. In the beginning, she had been forced to hide, but, now that she was a fulltime member of the crew and the humans had gotten used to her drinking blood, no one really bothered to care about it. It was a wonderful display of acceptance.

“Sound like you know him,” Nina giggled suddenly with a joking tone and then shrieked as she dropped a piece of cheese and ham onto her skirt after raising her slice of pizza a little too excitedly: “Oh no! My skirt!”

“Beginner’s luck or what?” Calm asked while rubbing his ear after Nina’s high-pitched shriek. “What makes you say that? It sounds a little too unbelievable to me considering what he has done and how far he has come.”

Inko helped Nina to clean her skirt by wetting a napkin with water and dabbed gently against the spot of fat while she agreed with what Inaho had said:

“He seems knowledgeable, but determined by his tactics, he seems too desperate to actually know where he’s going in the long run. It’s like he’s more interested in climbing the hierarchy rather than actually being politically successful.”

“Oh, aren’t you a know-it-all,” Calm grumbled as he felt inferior to Inko’s analyzing ability, which was somewhat spot on, Inaho thought.

The girl stopped cleaning the skirt and threw a piercing glare at her obnoxious friend.

“Had you been more responsible and studied as much as I did in school, then you would have been able to come to similar conclusions,” she answered poisonously and continued dabbing against her friend’s skirt.

“I wonder how the cursed creatures see it,” Rayet said absentmindedly and stared into a distant spot with vacant eyes, more interested in stimulating the conversation with her own thoughts without bothering to actively theorize with the others.

“They probably find that Troyard as some kind of catalyst for a better future,” a man’s voice said, and the teenagers turned to look at Dr. Yagarai who had just arrived to have dinner as well. He sat down at the neighboring table and continued: “They will use his charisma and passion to get what they want. Troyard has successfully waved the banner of war for every cursed creature to see, and, unlike the previous rulers, is including the people – even those who are poor and otherwise considered useless – in his speech of building a future, saying he needs their help as well. He has dusted off their national anthem to spark life into the slumbering cursed people, speaks about a better future with plenty of food for everyone, and lets everyone know they are important and matter.”

Inaho continued while feeling the seriousness of what Slaine was doing:

“That alone does a lot for those who are oppressed, and now their new ruler has promised to hand over the power to the people while attempting to erase the former imperial system with a new system of monarchy. By marrying her, Troyard has indirectly told the people he and his future wife will become a symbol without power, while the people are the ones to decide the nation’s future once this war is over. Vers is being reborn in their vision, which probably pleases the people who are tired of the old system.”

‘ _I’m not sure what he’s up to, but he plans on losing this war. Why?_ ’ he confoundedly thought.

The teenagers went silent for a while as they thought of what the psychologist and Inaho had said.

“In other words,” Rayet said with a monotone voice with the straw between her teeth, still staring absentmindedly into a distant spot on the other side of the canteen while drinking blood. “He has planted a seed that is impossible to stop from growing. If someone comes to stop the process of democracy, the people will become an angry mob since they have been promised power, and will probably do anything to protect their promised democracy. The other cursed nobles are holding their tongue, afraid to protest against the queen in case of a civil war.”

“Harsh times await us humans,” Dr. Yagarai said after nodding to Rayet’s conclusion. “The border between Vers and China is tense now that a war will break out any moment. I feel sorry for those guarding the border. They must be under such stress they barely dare to breathe in case their breaths will be the trigger.”

“Have we gotten any role in the battle in case the war breaks out?” Nina wondered.

Inko had managed to save her skirt from the pizza stains.

“I heard from Lieutenant Marito that Deucalion is ordered out even if it hasn’t been properly repaired – probably to assist the troops in Northern China since that is where Troyard operates directly,” Dr. Yagarai said and sighed. “We can’t let Vers bury its claws into China since it’s one of the last countries with enough military resources to keep the cursed at bay. China is a powerful military nation after all and has made extensive attempts to isolate their nation from trespassers and been somewhat of a background figure until now,” the man said and frowned. “After USA and NATO’s fall in the war in the West, and with EU fighting with its last breath, only UN will be the superpower left somewhat intact along with China and Turkey. If we lose China to Vers, I guess the human world will have to capitulate to Vers’ hegemony or dissolve completely, and all of us will have to run for as long as we can before being captured or killed.”

“Two superpowers won’t be enough, huh?” Inko asked and looked deeply concerned of the topic of discussion. She showed no interest in the pizza anymore. “If Vers gets China as well, they will have yet another superpower falling under their rule to use against the human world.”

“If that happens, Troyard will use all of China’s military resources against us, right?” Nina asked and seemed to have lost her appetite as well.

“China has a great A2AD strategy I’ve heard,” Calm said with a forced smile on his lips to ease up the heaviness in the atmosphere. “That should count for something!”

He was speaking about the anti-access/area denial strategy where China had tried to close its borders with advanced military systems based on sensors and robots placed on artificial islands around the South China Sea and expanded it to the borders to Vers – especially on the border close to Vladivostok. Inaho hoped Mazuurek had managed to get around this problem by now.

“You forget the cursed nobles are winning their individual wars around the world while uniting under Troyard’s banner,” Inaho said and stared at his unfinished slice of pizza on the table in front of him. “Once they have secured their areas, they will most likely turn their gaze toward China under Troyard’s request. China’s A2AD strategy won’t last long against such forces. Troyard will be able to breach the guarded borders in no time.”

“Yeah,” Inko said and sighed heavily. “I heard some cursed nobles are already on their way.”

“He’s crazy enough to probably manage that with his own forces without asking for anyone to aid him,” Rayet said and woke up from her disinterested state. “After getting another count’s assets three days ago, he’s slowly becoming a superpower himself. Once he marries Vers’ new queen, that’ll become reality since the entire nation will fall into his hands before he hands his and the queen’s power over to the people.”

“You think he has seduced her?” Calm asked instead and looked intrigued by the idea. “Do you think he’ll actually do as she says and change Vers? I wouldn’t,” he then said. “If I were him, I would become a dictator after taking her throne even if there’s angry mobs to pick on me. I mean, I would have the largest military owned by a single person in the whole world. If that won’t scare the angry mob away, then Hell has frozen over.”

“He won’t marry her,” Inaho said quickly, secretly out of jealousy. “We will stop him before that.”

‘ _I can’t bear to think the thought of him marrying someone_ ,’ he thought and felt the flames of jealousy lick his heart. ‘ _And he told me I need to stop him before he becomes too strong. He’s intentionally not planning for a long term career as a politician since he expects to be stopped. Can I get to him before he marries?_ ’

“Yeah!” Calm said energetically and with a grin on his face. “Let’s crash their wedding before they exchange their holy vows!”

The entire table burst out laughing at the sudden ridiculousness spilling out of their friend’s mouth. Even Dr. Yagarai smiled at the healthy joke that brought smiles onto the lips of the listeners surrounding the neighboring tables. The only one not laughing or smiling was the brunet, who had sunk into a strange state of downheartedness where his companions were anger, frustration and longing.

‘ _My feelings have begun to grow stronger after what happened in Vladivostok_ ,’ he thought and gritted his teeth for a short moment. ‘ _He’s torturing me without knowing it. Slaine…_ ’

†††

On the fifth day after the duel, the cursed blond found himself in the cabin where he had been hiding for the past few days. He sat next to the desk, bent over some maps of the Chinese border while papers with strategy and tactics were scattered all around him. Some even lay on the floor after unnoticeably fluttering down from a gust of air while he had been tearing through the papers in a frustrated manner.

Planning a war was difficult and time-consuming, especially for commoners like him with little experience and insufficient theoretical knowledge. Even if he had been studying warfare under Saazbaum’s supervision – a man with decades of experience – Slaine had been forced to hit the books once again, reading up on warfare strategy while hardly learning anything due to the nervousness shaking his mind. Somehow, he had managed to plan out a tactic he dared to place his pride in, and now hoped it would be enough to take China’s northern borders down.

He knew China had a well-guarded border. His eyes on the ground and in the air and at sea had reported great military activity close to the borders, with plenty of anti-missile systems and robots, and advanced sensors placed on strategic locations. The most guarded border was the one bordering to Vers – especially Vladivostok. The humans knew Slaine was dangerous due to his quick climb on the ladder of military hierarchy, with the largest surface fleet in Vers and the grandest submarine fleet in the world.

‘ _And I have the most nuclear warheads in the world as well_ ,’ he thought and sighed. He collapsed onto the desk and took yet another breath to calm his mind. The large ballistic submarines floated in his mind and he felt like a demon was caressing his back, telling him sweet lies of it being the right decision: ‘ _I will have to prepare myself to use the Project 941 Akulas…_ ’ he thought and frowned. ‘ _Nuclear warfare… I have gone mad._ ’

He wanted to avoid using the intercontinental ballistic missiles on board the Akula submarines if possible. One single missile was designed to split into ten individual warheads once launched – a so called Multi Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) – which would compromise the effectiveness of the anti-ballistic missile systems on China’s borders. One such interceptor could only target one warhead per missile at a time, which made the MIRV’s a successful strategy. They could be launched from the Northern Fleet’s submarines placed in Murmansk Oblast if there was a need to, since they reached distances of eight-thousand-three-hundred kilometers. The distance between Murmansk in Northern Vers and Hong Kong in Southern China was only about seven-thousand-four-hundred kilometers. All in all, Slaine owned one-hundred-twenty such ballistic missiles, all with ten independent nuclear warheads each. On top of that, he had placed out sensors and robots on the borders of his territory as well, and asked the other cursed nobles who had their territory borders toward China do the same and to evacuate the Versian citizens living close to the borders.

‘ _The humans won’t stand a chance_ ,’ Slaine thought devastated. ‘ _Don’t make me use them…_ ’

A wish to tell China that everything would be all right in the end flickered in his mind and undead heart. If they could only understand his plan to achieve world peace. If he only could make them see his vision and put down their weapons and – within a couple of months – they would be free again under Asseylum’s gentle promise. Then again, if he let China and the world know his true intention with the war, his own would backstab him after speaking to deaf ears; the humans would never trust a mad vampire, and they would most likely not keep his words a secret.

‘ _And I need the world to hate me. First the humans…_ ’ he thought and pushed his tired body up from the desk to look at the map of China. ‘ _And then the cursed creatures. They all have to hate me_.’

Even if China had MIRV’s as well, Slaine had a terrible hunch Vers would come out as the victor either way. USA and NATO had fallen, which meant the remaining superpowers still somewhat intact were China, UN and Turkey. If China fell, Slaine would be able to declare hegemony in no time.

His submarine fleets had been placed out in strategic areas around the sea border of China, waiting patiently outside the area China guarded to let their power rain down on the country’s important infrastructure, and the cursed nobles supporting his cause had joined in under his command and sent some of their military toward China as well. Slaine had several navies, air forces and armies to his disposal, which would help to overwhelm the enemy nation with his force, and claim China and its recourses as his. Once that was done…

‘ _It’s my time to betray my own in an act of madness… Inaho, will you be able to stop me from taking over the world?_ ’

Running steps approached outside in the corridor. They belonged to Harklight. Something urgent had happened, and Slaine got up from his desk and ordered the man to step in right before Harklight had had the chance to knock on the door. When the human young man entered the cabin, he looked distressed.

“My lord!” he said out of breath. “We have gotten an encrypted transmission from Count Mazuurek. He has escaped and asks for assistance. He cannot get through the guarded border from China to Vladivostok and is in hiding at the moment.”

“Count Mazuurek?!” Slaine asked bewildered. “He is still alive? Are you sure about it being him?”

“I am positive, my lord,” Harklight said. “It can only be him, since no one else but the cursed nobles know the privacy code he is calling from.”

“Have other cursed creatures heard his transmission?” Slaine asked immediately, feeling stressed about the matter.

“Yes. Countess Azelein is requesting your assistance to save him, and Count Keteratesse has heard it and responded as well,” his executive officer said.

‘ _Damn it!_ ’ Slaine thought and hurried out of the cabin.

“Thank you, Harklight,” he said and stepped toward the bridge of Tharsis.

“My lord?” the human man asked and hurried after the cursed blond, who strode down the corridor.

“If I refrain from saving him, the other cursed nobles might turn on me sooner than expected for not protecting our own. They know I am the most powerful of them all, and they expect me to use that power,” Slaine said and felt the nervousness of the war creeping out from its shell in his mind. “We will have to start the war sooner; we cannot save him unless we take down China’s borders. Begin organizing our troops and prepare them for war. We start at midnight. I leave Dioscuria under your command. You will be transferred there immediately.”

“Y-yes, my lord!” his blood sacrifice said with fear dripping from his voice.

†††

The sirens across Hong Kong were piercing the air with their warning that a war had begun. The dry dock where Deucalion had been repaired was being filled with seawater and the soldiers and sailors on board were preparing themselves for battle with faces as pale as that of ghosts. The brunet stood among his friends and listened to Slaine’s horrific speech to rile his men up, promising them glory and honor. He promised them whatever blood sacrifices they could capture, and he urged them to fight not for him, but for Vers. The moment Mazuurek’s name was mentioned Inaho knew the cursed count he had helped to free had managed to contact Slaine just as planned.

A hand took a hold of Inaho’s that hung limply at his side. He turned to look at Inko’s fearful expression staring back at him, silently asking him not to go out onto the battlefield and risk his life. The brunet gave her hand a squeeze, promising her everything would be all right in the end.

‘ _This time, I will capture him and end this. I will unite with you soon, Slaine_ ,’ he thought and felt nervous, but also eager to enter the battlefield. ‘ _Come out from your hiding place, Slaine, and I will meet up with you and make you lose, just like you asked me to_.’

The cursed part of him was eager; his teeth tingled strangely and his nails wanted to dig into soft flesh. The human part of him, however, wanted nothing more but to reunite with the silver-crowned prince, to share his heat with him and give him whatever he wanted from him.

‘ _This is confusing me_ ,’ he thought and listened to their captain’s short briefing through the speaker system on board, telling the soldiers and sailors they would head toward Northern China.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can't wait for the next chapter! What do you think will happen? ;3


	36. The Light of Day

The visual over the border in the Northeast province of Jilin, China, showed an area close to Vers’ border that was busy with military activity. His adoptive father had left him a great pathway in the forest area of Kedrovaya-Pad Zapovednik, a nature reserve of low-mountainous terrain. Count Saazbaum had shared the same opinion as Slaine about invading China from the previously impossible forest and mountain area, and had made a great effort to make this area accessible for the Versian military. When Primorsky Krai had been under Saazbaum’s rule, the cursed count had razed a big part of the forest to the ground, made wide paths for military vehicles and built roads over hills and through mountain passes, creating a functional road toward the border of China. China, in turn, had answered with doing the same, to be able to protect their nation from the cursed creatures.

Flashes of white light flickered on either side of the war between Vers and China on the monochrome monitor display. Heat signatures were white, while the rest of the area was depicted with black and grey hues. He stared at the ground through the eyes of the F-35B’s he had sent out to keep track of enemy activities on the ground.

The aircrafts with the Distributed Aperture System (DAS) was useful to ridiculous extents. The night vision created images so clear the time might as well have been in the middle of the day. The DAS kept track of thousands of objects on the ground, in the air and at sea, simultaneously. It tracked and warned about all of the enemy movements on the ground and autonomously sent information to other units, which could in turn adapt to the situation they were facing and avoid being targeted.

‘ _Anti-tank obstacles_ ,’ he noted and sent an order to halt the tanks for now.

“Air support! Target the front sections of area 2C and 3C,” he then said into the radio from the operations room, and got his order acknowledged.

Within a minute, flashes and smoke erupted on the screen as the F-22 Raptors obeyed his order and dropped several bombs over the enemy area.

The aircraft carriers Tharsis, Dioscuria and Herschel floated in the Amur Bay, West of Vladivostok, in the Primorsky Krai province in Vers. The war had gone on for several hours and Slaine had still not managed to breach the enemy defenses. Once the news about the war had reached across the entire cursed nation, even its citizens – common civilians – had turned into guerrilla forces, who had independently and bravely begun to exhaust the Chinese forces further West on the border while keeping their spirits strong with Vers’ national anthem.

Other cursed nobles were assisting in these areas on the border as well, pushing and shoving against the Chinese defense without mercy. The human nation was under great stress from everywhere on its Northern border, from Count Keteratesse’s territory in Mongolia to Countess Azelein’s Kazakhstan. Count Orga and Count Selkinas were arriving to the Southern area of China with their fleets within a couple of days, and Count Barouhcruz had decided to provide Slaine with his air force, resources and soldiers – probably as a gift of apology for his earlier behavior.

The Chinese soldiers were putting up a resistance that deserved to be praised, but, at the same time, the cursed blond felt frustrated for them to be this obstinate. The humans had been taken off guard when the war had begun out of nowhere, with several enemy aircrafts flying toward them with bombs and conventional missiles in their bays, to perform the first wave of bombings. Some of the Versian aircrafts had gone down in the first attack when the Chinese had managed to send their aircrafts to counter their enemy, and they had used their heavy ground artillery to shoot down enemy aircrafts. The battle in the air had been the first official clash in the war, opening up for the aggressive conflict that was now played out on the monitors around the world.

When the smoke had lifted somewhat after the second bombings, wiping away some of the anti-tank obstacles with the blast, Slaine ordered the tanks to move forward. He needed to penetrate the enemy defense, which meant he put a lot of his available firepower into one concentrated area – the area 3C – while the rest of the first line of cursed soldiers were pushing against the enemy defenses on either side of the 3C area, attacking the enemy from defensive positions to exhaust the Chinese forces. If the Chinese defense in the 3C area could be penetrated, the secondary Versian forces could pour in through the gap like water breaching a dam.

The Chinese army was using heavy artillery and bright UV lights to stop this breach from happening, attacking both ground troops and aircrafts. Luckily, Slaine had a greater force than the humans. The cursed soldiers, covered in UV protective gear, did not die as easily as the humans did; their bodies were already dead, which made them able to control their pain and move forward despite being wounded. Instead, the cursed soldiers became hungrier the more they fought and bled, which brought out the nightmarish beasts in them, motivating them to move forward even harder and faster, toward their preys.

Slaine watched the battle on the large monitor, unknowingly gritting his teeth from the tension. The Versian tanks were moving forward while brave soldiers paved way for them through the jungle of anti-tank obstacles. It felt chilling to watch, since the quick movements of the cursed soldiers were bestial as they ran across the terrain. Slaine tried to imagine how it looked like on the human side, and a shiver ran down his spine. He knew all too well how it felt to be chased by an attacking cursed creature in darkness, and the thought of being chased by thousands of them simultaneously – all of them wanting a bite from their prey’s neck – amped up the subjective feeling of terror.

‘ _Keep pushing_ ,’ he thought as the visual flickered with heavy fire from both sides. A Versian tank exploded on the right side on the display. ‘ _Just grit your teeth, soldiers, and push!_ ’

Helicopters were transporting blood and supplies to the troops from the ships at even intervals, dropping large crates from the sky that sailed down to the ground with parachutes. At the beginning, the humans had shot these supplies down, creating a bloody rain over the cursed troops – making it into a counter protective attack. Each time that had happened, the cursed soldiers had been overwhelmed by the smell of blood, which made their desperation for human blood grow. The humans soon noticed the cursed soldiers pushing more aggressively whenever they were tempted by the bloody rain, which soon made the humans change tactic and not target the crates, allowing them to safely land in their designated areas.

The blood banks in Vers were under great pressure. Blood sacrifices across the cursed nation were all ordered to supply the troops with blood. Some did it willingly while some were forced. The blood had a risk of running out, making the civilians starve, which made this battles’ success a must. In order to win this war, the cursed soldiers needed all the blood the nation could provide them, and, by winning this war quickly, the petered out blood banks would be refilled with blood from captured Chinese soldiers and civilians. If Vers lost this war, the entire cursed nation would fall into an acute famine. Despite this terrible risk, most of the cursed nobles did not object to a crazy stunt like this; they all wanted China to fall under Vers’ rule and, with Lemrina’s support in a powerful speech, this had become a possibility.

Right before the sunrise, the Chinese defense in area 3C was penetrated. Without hesitation, Slaine ordered the tanks from the primary force and the cursed soldiers in the secondary force to begin pouring in through the gap. He ordered Harklight on board Dioscuria to send out a couple of more aircrafts to assist the ground troops.

“ _Communication ECM’s have been activated in the areas from 1C to 8C, my lord_ ,” he heard Harklight say after a couple of minutes. “ _I cannot contact our troops in these areas._ ”

“This surprises me very little. Worry not,” Slaine answered while looking at the display of the ground in the battle-drenched area. The aircrafts had not been affected by the human’s ECM tactic. He felt somewhat confident as he continued: “They know what to do since I instructed them thoroughly to counter this move. Give them a couple of minutes and they will bring the jammers down.”

“ _Yes, my lord_ ,” his blood sacrifice and executive officer said somewhat nervously.

‘ _The humans are trying to envelop the flanks_ ,’ he noticed as he watched the Chinese soldiers begin their counter attack. They were desperately trying to isolate the cursed soldiers and tanks moving in through the breach by surrounding them. ‘ _But it’s futile. We are faster and stronger than them by nature._ ’

“Air support to section 2C and 4C,” he ordered to protect his soldiers.

†††

They had soon reached North Korea by a route that had snuggled close to China’s coast in an attempt to hide from Vers’ submarines observing and guarding the border out at sea. It had been a tense two days on board since no one knew if the Versian submarines had managed to dodge the sensors and slipped into Chinese waters. Luckily, no attack had occurred during the two day travel.

The U.N.S. Deucalion and the rest of the UN ships in the area had hurried toward the coast outside Pyongyang in North Korea, to transfer soldiers and supplies over to Northeastern China by air, to where the war had raged for two days. The small Korean Peninsula had survived the war mostly due to the guard by the Chinese military, and the Versian army leaders – the cursed nobles – had shown little interest in “the small peck of land”. Despite that, the Korean Peninsula had been under great observation by China since it was a gateway to China, and it was right outside Count Troyard’s territory. It bordered to the Primorsky Krai and Japan, which were both under Count Troyard’s ownership, and made the life on the peninsula into a tense and frightening experience; no one knew when Count Troyard decided to claim it.

The battle on the border to Primorsky Krai had displayed a great determination in the cursed count in charge of the Versian forces in the Primorsky Krai, and the Chinese soldiers’ bravery and unwillingness to succumb to the cursed forces was equally admirable. Inaho had to admit he had felt his confidence sink a little after listening to the news from the border, and it had started to decrease right the moment he had heard Slaine had managed to penetrate the first line of Chinese defense. After that, Slaine’s ability to lead forces had turned out to be more polished than the brunet had expected, making Inaho feel inferior to his opponent. Slaine had managed to counter each offensive tactic by the Chinese military with little losses as a consequence, and then answered back with firepower or used the disadvantages in the Chinese tactics to his favor.

When the Chinese had tried to use ECM to isolate the bloodthirsty creatures, the Versian force had quickly destroyed it with heavy artillery, guerrilla troops and air support. When China had tried pushing the Versian forces back, Slaine had answered with an attack with oblique order; massing his main force against an enemy flank while the secondary forces were distracting and luring the opposing reserves away. The Chinese had balanced out their forces to meet the Versian main force after realizing this, and tried to envelop the enemy soldiers. In turn, Slaine had ordered his soldiers into a counter-stroke against the weakest point of the Chinese force, split the human army in two, and begun to envelop them instead – slowly taking small steps deeper into China’s territory. The cursed soldiers were headed toward the city of Chunhuazhen, probably to make the small city into their new base and begin spreading across China through the 201 Provincial Road.

It had seemed like Slaine had eyes across the entire area; he had reacted to the entire field each time the Chinese soldiers had changed tactics, rather than reacting to small areas. Instead of moving one chess piece at a time during a match, Slaine was moving two or three per turn, resulting in the Chinese forces having great difficulties to surprise the cursed count with anything.

Right now, the hope the Chinese soldiers had was to get support from UN in time to the strained conflict at the border, and – within a day – Inaho and the soldiers on board the UN ships would find themselves on the battlefield, facing the cursed creatures like brave children facing their nightmares; terrified, desperate and lonely despite being surrounded by peers.

‘ _Mazuurek… Have you gotten through the border yet?_ ’ he wondered while watching the maintenance crew work tirelessly in the hangar.

“Are you sure about this?” Rayet asked next to him, sitting on a cargo box while watching Inko help her colleagues rearrange cargo that would be transferred along with soldiers.

“It’s not about me being sure or not,” Inaho said and turned his gaze to watch Calm crawl out of one of the air intakes on a fighter jet after checking the compressor blades to make sure they were properly functional. The boy seemed sweaty despite the winter air pouring in through the open hangar bay. “We don’t have a choice,” the brunet then pointed out.

Calm dropped his flashlight and grumbled a curse.

“You always say something like that,” Rayet pointed out while watching their mutual friend pick up the flashlight. “So what is your reason for not having a choice then?” she asked and turned to look at her colleague and friend.

“To stop the-“

“I know, I know,” Rayet interrupted him and sighed. “I mean, what do you think you have to do as an individual when stepping onto the battlefield? How do you intend to stop this war as Ensign Inaho Kaizuka?”

Inaho wondered if she had begun to catch on to the situation Inaho was in. She seemed to be aware of the brunet hiding something from everyone around him. In fact, she knew this for sure but only to a certain degree. She had been there next to him when Inaho had told Count Mazuurek about Seylum being alive. However, the cursed girl had not asked anything about it ever since. She was, however, unaware of Inaho’s intensions with going out to war in the Northeastern border.

“To find Count Troyard,” he said curtly.

“And?” his friend prompted.

“Capture him to make him face the consequences of what he’s done.”

The cursed girl sighed heavily and slumped down onto her back to stare at the deck above. She seemed somewhat frustrated.

“You think that will be possible? He is a third generation vampire, and he’s probably well-guarded by goons,” she said quietly.

“No,” Inaho said bluntly and continued: “He will step out onto the battlefield to guide his soldiers to boost morale. This war is still too dangerous for him to do that, but – once the situation gets slightly under control – he will move out. I am positive of that. That is when he won’t be guarded, and that is when we shall face him.”

“And just capture him?” she asked and looked at him by raising her head. She frowned. “We can’t just stroll up to that bastard and tell him to come with us. We had luck when we captured our previous cursed prisoner, and we managed to capture him because he was a freaking _sweetheart_ of a count.” Her tone told him she saw Mazuurek as anything but sweet. “I’m sure Troyard will put up a fight we can hardly imagine.”

“He will come with us one way or another,” Inaho said and noticed Rayet’s eyes narrow.

“Wishful thinking, eh?” she asked and went silent for a short moment, and then took a deep breath. “You know,” she began and sat up again, leaning closer to Inaho’s face while watching him closely. “I have been wondering about your urgency to capture Troyard.” She leaned closer to continue quietly: “You specifically told that cursed count you needed Troyard to fall into _your_ hands. Why?”

The brunet turned to look at her.

“That is confidential information,” he said curtly.

Rayet stared at him with suspicion flickering in her eyes, and then shook her head.

“Fine. Whatever,” she grumbled. “You do realize you ask me to risk my life in helping you with something I have no idea about what it is, right?”

Inaho nodded and turned to look at Inko struggling with a forklift.

“I do, and I expect you to do that without questioning it,” he answered. “If you don’t want to help me, then you’re allowed to back out of this, but do it before we arrive to the battle. I have to be able to trust you once we’re out there.”

The answer did not strike the cursed girl’s fancy, but Inaho paid it no mind. He would find the silver-crowned prince while navigating through the nightmare awaiting him, even if he had to do it alone.

†††

“ _Count Mazuurek has been secured, Lord Troyard_ ,” an officer said in the radio with the loud rumbling of war in the background. “ _He is wounded and severely starved, sir_.”

“A helicopter will pick him up in section 2A,” Slaine answered. “Treat his wounds and hunger.”

‘ _How ridiculous_ ,’ he thought after ordering out a rotorcraft to bring the found cursed count to the ship. ‘ _Starting a war earlier than planned only to save a single man…_ ’

Slaine had never had any interest in Count Mazuurek since the man had not been interesting at all. He had been a meek count, cursed a little more than two years ago solely because of his mother – the previous cursed countess in the clan – had suspected her life being in danger. She had shortly after disappeared, leaving her territory and assets in the hands of his son. The Mazuurek family had been a strong supporter of Princess Asseylum’s attempt to establish peace between the species, and, because of their loyalty, Countess Mazuurek had been secretly murdered by the hands of Slaine’s adoptive father – Count Saazbaum.

Then again, Slaine’s strategy was the opposite of Saazbaum’s, and saving Count Mazuurek meant he had another supporter of Asseylum’s peace work to use as a pawn. The rescued cursed count was a legitimate cursed noble after all, with a political voice speaking fondly of Asseylum. While his adoptive father had slowly weeded out the cursed nobles who supported the cursed princess to eradicate the threat for his future vision of the new Vers, Slaine was trying to eliminate those who showed any kind of opinions that would be dangerous to his secretly belov-

He held his breath and frowned, staring at the monitor showing the battlefield in front of him without seeing it for a moment, before shaking his head to clear his mind. Something was off.

‘ _Asseylum…_ ’ he thought and sighed while feeling a sudden urge to see her. ‘ _I just don’t feel right_ ,’ he then thought and decided to ignore the strange feeling when thinking about the sleeping cursed princess. ‘ _Focus_ ,’ he told himself. ‘ _Countess Azelein, Count Orga, Count Selkinas and Countess Barbarion have all voiced troubling thoughts about Asseylum, and are four nobles I have to annihilate. There is a possibility three more have to face the same fate._ ’

When the helicopter arrived to the flight deck, Slaine was there to meet up with the cursed count getting help by the crew to step out of the rotorcraft. The cursed blond walked up to Count Mazuurek as his feet were planted on the deck, and gave him a respectful bow while the nightly winter wind was tugging on their clothes.

“I am greatly relieved to see you are safe, Count Mazuurek,” Slaine said kindly after raising himself up from the bow. “Welcome on board V.E.S. Tharsis.”

“T-thank you, C-Count Troyard,” the pathetic cursed count answered while freezing.

He was deathly pale despite he had gotten blood according to his blue lips. Had he been starving, his lips would have been as pale as his skin.

“You must be horribly exhausted,” Slaine continued and faked a worried frown on his expression. “Let me show you to a comfortable cabin. I shall provide you with new clothes and as much blood as you need. Take your time to recuperate.”

“You are f-far too kind, Count Troyard,” the other said with teeth chattering and followed Slaine toward the superstructure to hide in the warmth of the ship. “I must express my gratitude for you assisting me like this,” he then continued when they walked down the busy corridors. Sailors and pilots stepped out of their way each time the cursed counts met crew in the passageways. “I feared it would be impossible. Your father would have been proud – both of your fathers, in fact; you moved a mountain to save one of your own.”

What the cursed count said was nothing but ridiculous in Slaine’s mind, but the cursed blond kept a smile on his lips.

“Thank you, Count Mazuurek. Although, I would say I tore this mountain you speak about down rather than moving it,” he said and stopped in front of a cabin door and opened it. “It is far more effective that way.” He stepped aside to let the cursed count in. “I hope this is to your satisfaction for now. I apologize for not being able to provide you with a better cabin than a standard officer cabin like this. Her Highness has occupied the noble quarters.”

The cursed count gave him a relieved smile.

“This is perfectly all right, Count Troyard,” he said with a slightly healthier glow now that he had begun to warm up. “It is a big upgrade from the cells on board a UN ship.”

Slaine nodded while maintaining his smile.

“I appreciate your leniency,” he answered. “Once this war has calmed down, I would like to hear about your experience with the humans. For now, take your time to rest. I have to return to my duties.”

As he left the cursed count to his own devices, Slaine ordered Eddelrittuo to bring the cursed count new clothes and some warm blood and make sure he had everything he needed. This charade of rubbing the cursed count’s back was tiresome and something he could not bother with right now since he had a war to worry about, but he had to make sure he treated his guests with utmost respect either way.

Once daylight came, he decided to board an F-35B Lightning II for the first time in two years’ time. It was nostalgic to find his self in the confined space of the aircraft again and check through the buttons, controls and system on board. Now that he knew what the aircrafts were capable of, he thought of them as the primary aircrafts on board and the rest as fire support. Both Tharsis and Herschel had the upgraded flight decks to be able to handle the hot blast from the aircrafts’ exhaust when hovering, since both had been the test objects for the new kind of fighter jets. The late Count Cruhteo had had four F-35B’s and the late Count Marylcian had had five. Now, Slaine had all of them.

The aircraft was sprayed with de-icing liquid to free it from frost and ice since the average temperature was minus ten degrees Celsius in the area during winter time. After that, he was ready for takeoff. Somewhat nervously, he reoriented himself in the cockpit until he felt confident again, and moved the aircraft to the runway under the guidance of a deck crewmember with yellow coverall, and opened the lift fan doors.

When he increased the thrust after the jet blast deflectors had been raised, the cursed blond felt pleased. He had not been able to fly for a long time because of his heart condition when he had been human, and, after waking up as a cursed creature, he had been too busy and had no duties that allowed him to fly. As a human he had felt like a bird with clipped wings in the beginning, but had found comfort in solitarily sailing the seas with a fast rescue boat instead. Now, he was back in his element; the air. He was back in the role he had begun his military career with – the role Count Cruhteo had drilled him into adopting.

With a confident smile spreading on his lips, he waited for the flight crew’s signal for takeoff, and, shortly, he released the breaks and felt the nostalgic tug as the aircraft went up in speed and rolled off the flight deck to soar up to the sky. He had not felt that kind of acceleration in a long time, but his body still remembered it all too well.

The weightless feeling was exciting. Had he had a beating heart, it would have fluttered in his chest. It felt different now to how flying had felt as a human. Back then, he had been nervous each time he performed a takeoff from an aircraft carrier. He had only made a handful of real takeoffs like that – one with an older generation fighter jet, and the rest had been with the F-35B model. Now, however, he felt confident – even after two years of hiatus. Although the takeoff felt different to how he remembered it, it still felt like he was offered freedom once lifting from the deck, as though there was nothing else but him and the sky.

The noise and vision were different now as well, and so was the sensation in the aircraft. Everything was more detailed than he remembered. As a human, he had thought the feeling of being one with the aircraft had been as real as it could become, but, now as he made a sharp turn to fly toward the ground base at the front, it truly felt like the aircraft was an extension of his body. It was as though he could feel the emptiness beneath him and sense the tiny vibrations from the engine and the tugging from the airflow outside directly.

Even in these cold temperatures, the aircraft flew smoothly. The Chinese forces had been bold to send up their aircrafts as well, and Slaine wondered if it was because their fighter jets were made to withstand sub-zero temperatures as well. Since the F-35B Lightning II had been designed for all-round usage, it had been made to handle any kind of weather known to man. Last year, the F-35B had had trouble with the oil flow when it had been properly tested in sub-zero temperatures, but it had been corrected several months ago on all of Slaine’s prototypes.

The Versian military base came into view, and the battle was still raging on further away. The humans had been surprisingly persistent, since they had been able to keep up with the battle-hungry cursed creatures without any moment of rest. The Versian soldiers had not been bad either; those who either lost their undead lives or were severely wounded were replaced with new soldiers, while others dragged the wounded back behind the safe line while leaving the dead behind. The wounded were treated with heat and plenty of blood, were allowed to rest to heal, and were sent out onto the battlefield again. Humans, however, could not do that.

‘ _They should be exhausted soon_ ,’ Slaine thought and went in for a landing after calling the ground to announce his presence.

Once he had landed vertically, he was immediately greeted by a cursed viscountess in charge of the area.

“I am greatly honored you chose to visit my area, Count Troyard,” she said once Slaine’s feet touched the ground that had been heated by the aircrafts scorching exhaust, and bowed to him respectfully as she should.

“Thank you, Viscountess Sondra,” Slaine said without removing his helmet to protect him from daylight. The sound of battle was loud in the area and cursed soldiers ran around, all of them doing their duties as fast as possible. “Do you have time?”

“Of course, my lord,” the cursed viscountess said and showed him down a small path in the forest, and they entered a military tent with some operations personnel shouting orders while officers were talking around a virtual map. Two were watching the same display over the battlefield as Slaine had on board Tharsis. “Everyone!” Viscountess Sondra exclaimed, and everybody in the tent looked up at her and Slaine.

“My lord, Count Troyard!” a cursed officer said surprised, and all of them gave their lord a bow while Slaine removed his helmet.

“You are all doing well,” the cursed blond said and looked at the personnel. “Vers is proud of you for being this dutiful, and Queen Lemrina is showing great satisfaction. I am sure Princess Asseylum would have said and thought the same about you as well.”

“Thank you, Count Troyard,” the officers and soldiers said with proud smiles on some of their lips, while others looked serious to express their honor.

Slaine stepped up to the personnel standing around the map and removed his warm leather gloves.

“How is everything going here? I understand the humans are showing great resistance,” he said and looked at the markings on the map. It showed a layout over where the cursed soldiers were fighting at the moment and what equipment they and the enemy had.

“They are remarkable in their primitive ways,” an officer said. “They are quick to read our tactical movements. The first night, their UV lights were so strong they made themselves into sitting targets in the light. It gave our snipers a great opportunity to see them better due to the traceability of their shadows; we found them quicker that way. They figured out they should turn their light off in the night, and, last night, we lost about six-hundred soldiers in just eight hours. Just a couple of hours ago, we understood they use thermographic cameras to trace the heat of our heating suits.”

Slaine blinked from surprise and stared at the officer.

“Thermographic cameras?” he asked. “That is indeed an effective strategy to see us during the night.”

“I agree, my lord,” another officer said. “We have compared a handful of such cameras after either capturing their owners or killing them, and found they use the heat tracking range on twenty degrees Celsius and up to forty degrees Celsius. We believe they use infrared cameras as well, but they seem to use the thermographic cameras as a main tactic during darkness for now.”

“It probably gives them a clearer picture due to the colors than a monochrome infrared picture does,” Slaine said while thinking, and then frowned. “What is your tactic to get around this problem?” he then asked, and everyone went silent from shock.

‘ _So, you haven’t thought about it or come to a conclusion_ ,’ Slaine realized and sighed.

“Men,” he said. “In order for us to win this war, we have to think outside the box, so to speak.”

“W-we did think about lowering the temperatures of our suits, but that would mean we would get exhausted quite quickly due to the cold,” an officer said somewhat hesitantly. “And the cold is painful, my lord.”

Slaine narrowed his eyes.

“You are afraid the soldiers’ morale will plummet if they are asked to perform such an agonizing task?” he asked.

“That is correct, my lord,” another officer said.

“I believe bullet wounds, the scorching of silver and the damage done by explosions is painful as well,” the cursed count said with a serious tone of an admiral. “If given blood during critical moments, what makes the cold different to other forms of pain?”

“We all agree with you, my lord, but the cold is dangerous,” an officer said, and Slaine slapped down his leather gloves onto the map, making the officers around the table jump while the others behind them went silent.

“Excuses!” the cursed count said angrily. He was sure his icy eyes of a demonic wolf were glaring at the men around the table; their expressions were of terror. “We as a species are sheltered when it comes to the exposure to cold. It is a cultural phenomenon. We cursed creatures have been taught to fear it, and that is why we fear it – not because it is more dangerous compared to any other pain,” he said and calmed down for each word he spoke. “We have to reason with our fear – just like we have done with the fear of silver and wounds – rather than give in to the uncomfortable emotions it brings and pamper ourselves free from that fear.”

None of the officers talked back at him since they all knew what he said was probably true, but the irritation from listening to their excuses was nagging at Slaine’s mind. How difficult was it to actually understand something so simple and be blind like that? Did cursed creatures really lack the insightfulness and reflexive ability to understand themselves in relation to the society around them? Or was Slaine the odd one simply because he had not lived as a cursed creature long enough, which gave him a different perspective to the cursed society? Perhaps he was being unfair, he thought. He was surely under the influence of unknown emotional, cultural and ideological phenomenon as well, making him just as blind as the officers before him.

‘ _I will have to show them_ ,’ he thought tiredly.

“Give me a squad who are willing to go out onto the battlefield with me during the night,” Slaine finally said after a moment of silence. “Five men should do. Supply all of them with a bottle of blood.”

“My lord!” Viscountess Sondra exclaimed. “Forgive me, but it is too dangerous for you to get out there. We cannot risk losing you.”

“I believe I am the one to decide that,” Slaine said and looked at her with a warning. “You told me about your concern about reduced morale if the men are told to go out there with cold suits. If I am with them, I believe I will make my point clear while not risking the soldiers’ morale.”

Instantly, he began giving orders while figuring out a plan. No one dared to question him, but, soon, the officers around him began to grow confident the more details Slaine put onto the table.

†††

“Have you decided yet?” the brunet asked the cursed girl while they were on the transport flight to the Northeastern border of China, drowning out the loud noises of the aircraft.

Rayet arched her right eyebrow and looked up at him.

“About supporting you or not?” she asked, and Inaho nodded. She took a deep breath. “If I don’t, you’ll just die out there,” she then said and gave her colleague and friend a grin. “I have no choice.”

‘ _Thanks_ ,’ Inaho thought gratefully and answered her grin with a gentle smile while the captain’s voice flowed out from the speakers, telling the soldiers on board the aircraft was about to land.

Once the brunet exited the aircraft, the loud noise of war attacked his sensitive ears with explosions and crackling from gunfire. The air was also polluted with the smell of gunpowder, smoke and other chemicals that drifted toward the newly arrived soldiers, giving the area an acrid smell that stung Inaho’s nostrils. Rayet seemed to feel bothered by the condition of the area as well; she made sure her helmet was properly sealed to prevent the stench from getting inside it, clearly displeased and uncomfortable.

“Yikes,” Inaho heard his sister exclaim behind him, and he turned to look at her. She was wearing full military gear, just like everyone else. “This brings back memories from just a couple of weeks ago,” she continued and looked at the brunet and red-haired girl. “Are you two all right?”

“Yeah,” Rayet answered and looked around the area. “I’m fine, although, this smell is horrible. My sense of smell is growing numb.”

“Mine as well,” Inaho answered and felt the acrid smell burn the sensitive inside of his nose. “But we need to try using all our senses anyway, just like always,” he then said and looked at Rayet, who nodded.

“All right,” Yuki said and looked serious. “You two are an independent team, not belonging to any squad and will keep our side clean of those vampires that manage to slip into it. The Chinese soldiers are notified of what you two are, so you should be safe. The orange color of your suits will tell the Chinese soldiers you are with the UN. However, you answer to me or Lieutenant Marito, you hear?”

“Yes ma’am,” Rayet answered and gave a leisure salute.

“Got it, Yuki,” Inaho said, and his sister got a worried look on her face as she looked at them both.

“Take care of yourselves,” she said quietly. “Don’t neither of you dare come back in a body bag.”

“You too,” Inaho answered, and his sister gave him a tight hug before they were ordered out onto the battlefield.

The battle was quick paced and difficult due to the terrain. It was rocky and filled with hills and the snow and ice was slippery. The white snow was covered with sooth and other polluting remains from used up artillery, and the near forest on the cursed nation’s side of the border had been demolished in the attacks. Soldiers were hiding behind hilltops and rocks, shooting toward cursed soldiers running toward them with terrifying speed. Some cursed soldiers used the rocky terrain to take cover and hide, while others simply ran toward the Chinese soldiers without fear holding them back. Inaho quickly learned those enemies that did not hide were risking their lives simply to distract the Chinese soldiers, while those who hid creeped closer and closer.

It was no wonder the Chinese soldiers all looked ragged from stress. Their eyes had a wild look in them, as if they were hyper focused and terrified of relaxing the slightest. Even those not on the front line looked like they had not slept for several nights. The officers shouted their orders with angry tones, angry probably because of the constant stress, and soldiers answered them with wavering psychological health; some did not bother to answer their officers at all after receiving their orders, and just hurried out onto the battlefield. Those were the ones who lost their lives first, Inaho learned.

‘ _The mental exhaustion is widespread_ ,’ he thought after taking a look around after smashing a cursed soldier’s head with a kick after removing their helmet. The cursed soldier – an eighth generation vampire – had managed to slip into human territory, and Inaho had managed to shoot its knee before running up to it to kill it. These young generation cannon fodders were easily defeated by the brunet, who was of an older generation than them. ‘ _The Chinese can’t keep fighting like this; we will lose this war_.’

Someone screamed behind him and he turned around quickly to see what was going on. A Chinese soldier, about thirty meters away from the front line, had been attacked by a vampire, but Rayet had been there in time to save the soldier’s life by decapitating the cursed creature without hesitation.

‘ _They’re slipping deeper and deeper into our territory_ ,’ the brunet then concluded with worry and hurried after the next trespasser who sneaked closer. ‘ _They’re probably after the communications base_.’

The battle raged on mercilessly and, after several breaks, Inaho was exhausted from straining his body for several hours until night fell over the area. He had to return to the base soon to replace his oxygen tubes since the two he had brought with him had begun to feel empty. Sweat was pearling down his skin, soaking his clothes beneath the mesh armor and safety vest, and his breath was caught in his throat and his lips were dry. The heart in his ribcage was beating violently and his muscles screamed for rest, but he knew he could not stop yet. The cursed creatures were unyielding and impossible to exhaust since they had no limits as long as their blood supply was accessible, but the humans were already tired since there had not been a ceasefire for three days now; the cursed creatures just kept on attacking.

Who could blame them, he wondered? How possible was it to sleep while knowing real nightmares haunted the area right outside one’s doorstep? Had this been a war between humans, the exhausted soldiers would have not needed to worry about monsters the same way as now; if they closed their eyes to sleep, no one knew when a cursed creature would crawl up on their bed and eat them. They were already like dreadful shadows the way they slipped into the Chinese territory without being seen, that paranoia was shaking the human military to the core.

Suddenly, a scream erupted from somewhere further away in the night. The voice screamed something in Chinese, and the soldiers who heard it began to act nervously. Some panicked and began looking around the area with their guns and thermographic cameras up high, changing their aim in violent and paranoid patterns while waving the nozzles of their guns in front of them.

“What did he scream?” Inaho asked the nearest Chinese soldier, who looked up at him with a start and stared at him with horrified eyes for a while before answering with broken English:

“T-they are invisible. No r-reading in camera.”

He pointed at his thermographic camera, and Inaho’s mind began spinning with reasons for why the cameras did not see the cursed creatures attacking.

‘ _They have chilled themselves below the set temperature range!_ ’ he concluded and announced this to Yuki and Marito, and told them to relay it to the Chinese officers.

Another scream echoed in the distance, and Inaho began running toward it. In the distance, in the closeness of a lamp shedding weak light over a small path, a burgundy coat flickered for a second before it disappeared into the shadows, leaving a silent human thrashing on the ground from a deep cut over the soldier’s neck. Blood poured down the soldier’s neck and soaked the snow, and it looked like it boiled as bubbles formed it flowed out of the wound while the soldier was desperately trying to breathe. Inaho’s heart skipped a beat and his breath was caught in his throat. The shock made him stop in his tracks, and, suddenly, he vomited from the gruesome sight.

‘ _Slaine is here!_ ’ he thought baffled as he collected himself, feeling a sudden rush course through him, edging him to run after the blond-haired prince and capture his embraceable body in his arms. ‘ _Why? Why is he on the front line? It’s too dangerous, Slaine!_ ’

He knew he had to notify the others about a cursed count being out on the battlefield, but he found no strength to do so. If he let the officers and soldiers know, Slaine risked dying. Inaho could not allow that. Then again, if he refrained from notifying the others, warning them, plenty of more people would die in the cursed creatures’ hands. A cursed count was not to be taken lightly, and Inaho knew this.

‘ _But I can’t let them take him_ ,’ he thought and found he was stuck in hesitation.

“A cursed count is in the proximity!” he heard Rayet say behind him, and Inaho turned around to look at her stern gaze. “It’s probably Troyard.” Once she lowered her hand from the throat microphone, she took a hold of Inaho’s uniform and shook him. “Get a grip!” she hissed angrily. “Whatever business you have with him, you can’t risk our lives just because you’re selfish!”

When the officers began shouting orders in the radio, Rayet released the brunet.

“We have to capture him,” Inaho said with distress bubbling beneath his voice. He sounded nearly perfectly calm was it not for the anxiousness hinting in his voice. “I can’t let them take him, Rayet.”

The cursed girl narrowed her eyes and glared at him with horrible suspicion. Inaho was sure she understood something by his desperate words.

“Tell me, does this all have to do with the vengeance for what he did to you? Are you that bitter?” she asked seriously.

Her question made the brunet feel surprised.

“Rayet, I-“

A third scream was heard, and then a fourth, interrupting their brief dialogue. The cursed creatures had gotten deeper into the Chinese territory, and, within moments, a large explosion was heard from the base.

The cursed creatures had reached the base at the Chinese rear.

“We’ll talk about this later!” Rayet said and dashed off toward the base.

Before Inaho followed her, knowing it was the right thing to do, he looked toward where he had seen the cursed count moments earlier. He longed to see him again, but this was not the time. The Chinese and UN soldiers needed all the support they could get, and he tore his eyes away from the weakly lit area and hurried after Rayet.

‘ _Soon, Slaine. I’ll come for you soon!_ ’

†††

He had barely managed to dodge away into the shadows after seeing the bright orange uniform he recognized anywhere. Orange was on this battlefield and he could not allow an engagement with him. Slaine did not know how strong the brunet had become, since he knew he would try to stop him. He had requested it himself, and, right now, Slaine was not ready to get caught. The time was not right as there was still much to do.

‘ _I have to avoid him for now_.’

“Retreat! Leave the area to the main force,” Slaine ordered his small squad, who all obeyed without hesitation and began running back to their base.

The cold was biting into his skin and flesh while making his joints feel stiff. It hurt to move, as though his joints were protesting by burning. It was a pain he could deal with, and his squad had turned out to realize this as well; they had not complained at all and had been bravely fighting while drinking small sips of blood from the bottles to keep their cold bodies strong. He had been right about the pain of cold. The small squad he had gotten had performed splendidly and pushed through the same pain as he, fighting bravely and succeeded with their attacks.

The attack had been possible. Their chilled bodies had a temperature around fifteen degrees Celsius, which naturally was horribly painful to those who could not create their own core heat, but it had helped them to be invisible in the thermographic cameras that were set to visualize object of twenty degrees Celsius and higher. This had allowed his squad members to sneak closer and closer without being seen, to finally dash out and attack the unexpected and nearly blind enemies.

Slaine was worried for how long this tactic was going to last now that the humans probably had realized what had happened, but, at least, the base had been taken down after one of the squad members had reached the base at the rear, behind the front line.

“The base has been taken down. Send out the first reserves to aid the main force and breach this defense as well,” he ordered through the radio as he disappeared into the forest that grew thicker for each step he took.

“ _Yes, my lord!_ ” the viscountess answered from the cursed base.

Soon, a wave of his own soldiers came running toward him like a tidal wave and a feeling of terror made him slow down his steps. The sight of them was horrifying, like a nightmare dashing toward him. Hungry eyes flickered everywhere in the force of monsters, and Slaine stopped to stare at them. He had yet to forget his human experiences with the cursed creatures.

The crowd of cursed soldiers continued running past him, moving around him where he stood and watched the men bravely march forward with fearsome speed. Once the crowd of nightmarish soldiers had run past him, he turned around to look at them attacking the humans at the front line. Screams erupted in the night along with desperate gunfire and a chill ran down his spine. The line of conflict was pushed back behind the hills as the humans’ defense gave way for the hungry monsters. The humans must have been subjected to great terror until now, and more terror would come their way.

‘ _Inaho_ … _You’re here too soon_ ,’ he thought and prayed he would be allowed to see the brown-haired boy soon to be brought down on his knees and face the consequences of his sins. ‘ _I’m sorry. Just a little more. I just have to win this and wrap things up. Then I’ll let you find me and kill me. Stay alive until then_.’

As he returned to the military tent, with thoughts of the orange clad boy occupying his mind, the officers saluted him with respect and welcomed him back. On the display, the battle was played out and it clearly showed the human defenses being pushed further and further into the Chinese territory. However, the human forces at the flanks were suddenly pushing heavier against the Versian flanks, and the humans began to envelop the cursed soldiers.

‘ _It’s a trap!_ ’ Slaine thought horrified.

“Send out reserves to the flanks!” he ordered. “Call for air support from the carriers and push against the enemy as aggressively as possible with heavy artillery in the meantime. We need to give our all in this fight.”

“Yes, my lord!” the cursed people in the tent exclaimed and went to work, calling out orders.

“Send out the guerrilla troops to sabotage as much behind the enemy lines as possible. They need to focus on the ground-to-air weaponry. Order them to put their suits on less than twenty degrees Celsius to avoid the enemy’s thermographic cameras. All of them should have a bottle of blood with them in case they need to compensate for the biting cold,” he ordered and walked toward the opening of the tent, saying: “I shall be going out there as well and attack from the air.”

“My lord!” Viscountess Sondra said and hurried after him as he stepped out of the tent and walked toward the aircraft. “Are you sure about this? We need you here at the-“

“Go back to your duty, Viscountess Sondra!” the cursed count said with a ruthless tone, scaring the cursed woman to take two steps away from him. His eyes must have been ice cold once again. “I believe I told you we all have to work hard with this attack. That includes me. Now, guide your troops as you are supposed to!”

“Y-yes, Count Troyard,” the cursed creature said and hurried to obey her master’s orders, and Slaine proceeded to climb into the aircraft.

Two more days passed with a bloody massacre taking form, staining the snow with blood and creating a red ice carpet over the area. The humans were finally staggering and Slaine had managed to push them all the way to the small city of Chunhuazhen. He was becoming impatient. To ensure his victory and to give China a warning, he finally gave the order:

“Fire three R-39 Rif’s. Location: Yanbian, Mudanjiang and Changchun in Jilin, China.”

Three MIRV ballistic missiles were fired from the Project 941 submarines in Vladivostok harbor, headed for the three cities in China to let the human nation know he would not stay patient any longer. He was claiming victory, and he would not accept anything else.

‘ _If you continue this war, I will not hesitate to go in with full force_ ,’ he thought and listened to the submarine captains’ announcements of the missiles being successfully sent up into the air. ‘ _The world will burn if you won’t obey me_.’

Once the missiles hit their targets after just a couple of warhead losses, the battlefield around Chunhuazhen went deathly silent. The world was holding its breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there's any inconsistencies, then I'm sorry. I'm down with a cold at the moment so my thoughts and English skills feels like a jumbled mess at the moment. I still hope you enjoyed this build up for the next chapter!


	37. Price of Honor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I decided to be nice and upload the next chapter now since I know most of you are waiting for the pr0n scene. ;3 I hope you enjoy!

“Rayet, hurry,” the quiet voice said inside a military truck.

“Ssch!” the cursed girl hissed next to him while unstrapping the belt of a dead cursed soldier, who lay in a puddle of blood after falling victim for the girl’s brutal kick.

Rayet hurried to undress the dead soldier from his uniform and pushed his corpse aside once she was done to change her clothes. Inaho kept an eye on the surroundings from a small gap in the military green canvas enveloping the back compartment of the truck. It was night time and just moments after the cursed soldiers had taken over the small city of Chunhuazhen.

The army at this Northeastern border had lost the battle the moment the enemy leader – Count Troyard – had ordered the ballistic missile attack on cities around Chunhuazhen. The shock of nuclear warheads being in use had overwhelmed the humans, made them terrified to hear an order from their superiors that told them to answer with the same kind of weaponry. Luckily – depending on whom you asked, of course – no such order had come that would put the world on fire. Instead, the human soldiers had been told to keep fighting with conventional weaponry, but, once Count Troyard had threatened with another nuclear attack, the Chinese army had taken a step back.

No one had expected the cursed count to use such extreme weapons of mass-destruction so soon, and it had completely thrown the Chinese and UN army off trail from sheer shock. Inaho believed the Chinese officers knew they would not stand a chance if a nuclear war broke out, and had finally ordered the troops in the Northeastern border to retreat and evacuate the area. However, there had been little time for that once the last defenses had been breached and cursed creatures had come welling through the gap like a tidal wave, ready to wipe away all human life in the area. This had resulted in many soldiers committing suicide on the line, thinking they rather died than be taken alive by monsters.

The enemy was still busy checking the city for human survivors to capture and feast upon; they had not properly secured the city yet but were well along the way of doing that. People were screaming, yelling, cursing and running around outside the truck, doing everything they could to save their lives. Some had been murdered for resisting too much, while many lay gasping on the bloody snow, dying from blood loss after having their veins pillaged and plundered by hungry blood-sucking monsters. Many were still in hiding, and some were found now and then and were forcefully dragged out of their hiding places to be brought to the prison camps on Vers’ side of the border.

A group of cursed soldiers had cornered a Chinese soldier against a wall of a store a little further down the street, pretending to attack him so they could have a good laugh on the behalf of the terrified human soldier who shook and trembled while speaking incoherent Chinese to the vampires in an attempt to beg for mercy. After a couple of spooks, the group of cursed creatures attacked the poor man, pushing him up against the wall and bit down into whatever vein their needle-like teeth could get access to.

A woman was screaming further down the street. She had been stripped bare and had already had her knees, hands and other parts of her body scraped bloody after being forced to crawl on the snowy and icy ground. Now, she was ruthlessly raped by two cursed soldiers, still screaming for her dear life. After a while, however, she went silent, as though giving up and let her mind be disconnected from her defiled body.

Inaho was grateful UN had been quick to evacuate their own from the area; Yuki had been taken away from there while Inaho and Rayet had decided to stay behind in a desperate attempt to find the leader of these wandering nightmares outside the truck.

“Done,” Rayet whispered, and Inaho turned to look at her. She was dressed in a Versian uniform. “I can’t believe this is happening,” she then continued as she threw a military blanket over the cursed corpse to hide it. “That Troyard deserves to suffer.”

“Just focus on finding him. He must be here somewhere or is on his way to inspect the grounds of his new territory,” Inaho whispered back while secretly disagreeing with the cursed girl.

“Are you sure?” his companion asked, and the brunet dodged from the gaze of a cursed soldier.

“He is the leader,” Inaho whispered and carefully fumbled for one of the anxiolytic pills in his pocket to prepare for Slaine’s arrival. “He has to show his face here sooner or later,” continued the brunet after gulping down the pill with water. “You need to keep me alive until then.”

“Shit! Someone’s coming,” Rayet gasped and pushed Inaho down against the bottom of the truck and pinned him down. She leaned close to his neck until her moist breath brushed against the area she had bitten two years ago, and Inaho lay limp beneath her. Once the canvas for the truck was pulled aside, Inaho listened to Rayet hiss: “Get your own blood sacrifice!”

“He should be brought to the camps once you’re finished with him,” the cursed soldier said, but Rayet put further strength into her voice as she growled:

“Count Troyard promised us to be allowed to keep a blood sacrifice as our own if we managed to capture one. This is my prey and I’m not sharing it!”

The cursed soldier grumbled something about prioritizing the blood banks first, but decided to leave her alone with her blood sacrifice. The soldier probably gave up considering the way the other cursed soldiers behaved in the area whenever capturing a human soldier.

Once the brunet and the red-head were left alone, Rayet got off Inaho and looked outside again.

“I never got the chance to ask,” she whispered. Inaho pushed himself up and discarded his weapons in order to look like a captured blood sacrifice. “What’s your deal with that Troyard? Why are you so intent on finding him? I know it’s not unusual of you to persistently chase your cause, but I’m getting a bad feeling from this.”

“It’s nothing to be concerned about,” Inaho answered, hoping she would leave it at that, but she did not.

“Of course it is!” she hissed with a whisper. “You didn’t report him being in the area a couple of days ago. And you were hesitating. Why?”

“I told you it’s of no concern,” the brunet insisted, refusing to reveal his reason for risking his life like this.

“If we’re caught, there won’t be anyone to save us. You know that. Why am I risking my life out here?” the cursed girl continued and turned to look at him with an angered glare.

Inaho stared back at her, trying to figure out how to avoid revealing too much about why he was so persistent to capture the enemy leader to even stay behind when their own were evacuated from the area.

“I need him to bite me and drink my blood,” the brunet finally said. “When he does, he will get poisoned because of the medicine I’m taking. That is when we’ll capture him.”

Rayet’s eyes widened with shock. She stared at him as if she thought he had lost his mind.

“Is that why you have been taking those pills?” she asked with a whisper. “To build up a tolerance so he won’t know your blood is tainted? Are you crazy?!”

“According to my logic, I’m quite sane. This is our best chance to capture him and end this war,” the brunet countered.

Although he refused to reveal what he thought about Slaine, since he knew that was too risky, he knew she suspected his reasons being of a personal kind. He hoped she would hold her questions to herself since he had no wish to reveal the intimate emotions he harbored for the tyrant trying to set the world ablaze. There was no way of knowing how the cursed girl would react if she learned the truth.

Rayet frowned from disappointment and sighed.

“And then what?” she asked and turned to spy on the world outside. “Once you’ve captured him, will you just hand him over to the UN?” As Inaho kept silent, she kept pushing: “You know – I haven’t seen you express much emotion ever since I got to know you, but I’m very aware of you carrying around a large spectrum of emotions. When I confronted you for not reporting Troyard’s presence, you looked really anxious when you told me you couldn’t let UN have him.” She looked at him again, and Inaho knew he was losing this struggle of keeping his plan a secret. “I’ve never seen you with such an expression before. What is going on? Once you capture him, what will you do with him if not hand him over to UN?”

‘ _What will I do with him?_ ’ the brunet thought perplexed. He had not really been thinking about the next step since he had been so occupied with finding a chance to see Slaine again. He wanted the silver-crowned prince to fall into his arms and stay there, but, now that Rayet put it out so clearly, he realized he would not be allowed to keep Slaine for himself. ‘ _UN will lock him away or execute him_ ,’ he thought and felt distressed again. ‘ _They’ll take him away from me_.’

What a strange feeling it was to have been taken off guard like this. Rayet had truly managed to corner him properly this time, and, for the first time, he had no answer to give him. The violent emotions and needs he had felt had completely wiped away his ability to think further into the future; he had no plan of what to do with Slaine once he captured him. The brunet was so confused about the emotions’ ability to do something as cruel to him as blind him.

‘ _Is this what people mean when they speak about love blinding them?_ ’ he wondered confused, slowly feeling the stress build up in his body.

He had heard of it before – how people behaved as though being high on some kind of drug when being in love – but he had never thought it would affect him like that. He had always been so calm and calculated, always planning ahead of things to be able to follow the pace the world spun with to ensure he never fell behind. That kind of life had been predictable and comfortable. Now, his emotions had slowed down his pace, making his world less predictable than he was comfortable with. This was what stressed him out; he had lost control.

‘ _Slaine never had control_ ,’ he then thought as he realized the difference between him and the silver-crowned prince. ‘ _He’s completely blinded by his love for Seylum_.’

“Rayet,” the brunet began and made a pause to collect his thoughts. “He told me to stop him. He specifically told me to do it when I met him in Vladivostok. He wants to lose this war because he has no intention of ruling Vers. I’m not really sure what he’s after, but he was sincere when we spoke. I have to trust him.”

Rayet stared at him with the shock increasing. She looked like she could not believe what she heard him say, and, without warning, she grabbed his collar and shook him – just like she had done a couple of nights ago when she had confronted him.

“You have lost you mind, Inaho!” she whispered furiously. “God damn it! Do you even hear what you’re saying?!”

“I do,” the brunet answered and stared at her with determination. “You don’t know him like I do. Deep inside, he’s lost and frightened, compassionate and kinder than anyone we know. I know how this all sounds, but trust me. The Troyard we see is nothing but an act. He’s not like the count he pretends to be. He knows he can’t keep up the act much longer, and that is why he wants me to stop him; so no one will learn about his lie.”

All Rayet could do was to stare at him in disbelief without finding words to say. Inaho found no reason to blame her; what he told her probably sounded so unbelievable it could not be true to her. The cursed girl did not say a word, however; she let go of him and slumped against a support holding up the canvas, staring at him from utter shock.

“Rayet,” Inaho said instead, leaning closer to show her how sincere he was. “I still need you. We have to get out of this truck. I suggest we go to the houses in the Northern part of the city.”

The cursed girl nodded, still not saying a word.

†††

With anxiousness boiling in the pit of his empty stomach, he jumped out of the aircraft after landing in the middle of a small field in the taken city of Chunhuazhen. It had taken him hours to gather courage while hiding in Harklight’s arms to dare go out and inspect his newly conquered territory. Now that the war was over in this area, he feared what he would see.

As he removed his helmet and looked around, he saw cursed soldiers patrolling the streets, charging into houses in search for enemies, vandalizing stores and guarding a group of Chinese and UN soldiers that had been captured. They were waiting for transportation that would take them to Vers to begin their careers as blood sacrifices, and had to wait until the roads had been cleared from barricades and corpses of lost soldiers from either side of the war.

The air was heavy with different kinds of smells. Slaine could feel the scent of blood drift heaviest in the area since the stench of chemicals and firearms had been somewhat aired out by the wind. Those strong and unnatural smells were second strongest, and the third strongest smell was the smell of human sweat and other fluids. Then a fourth smell made an undefined feeling flash, warning him about something uncomfortable.

The smell of death.

The sickly sweet smell of corpses that reminded him about the smell of vanilla, fruits and acetone.

He recognized it all too well, but he had not felt the scent for a long time. Even if he was surrounded by undead corpses, they had never begun to smell like an inanimate corpse did. Now that he thought about it, he had not been close to human corpses for a long time despite living in a world where deaths were much more common than births. The only time he could come up with was when he had visited the front line a couple of days ago, but, back then, he had been busy enough to not notice the smell of corpses around him. Now, however, as he wandered down the streets and was saluted respectfully by his own soldiers, the smell was gradually becoming overwhelming.

The anxiety slowly morphed into something else, becoming another kind of unsettling emotion the longer he walked on the streets. More and more, he found himself avoiding the sight of corpses around him as if he feared the faces of those unknown soldiers lying in the snow. It was as though their faces asked him – begged him – not to kill them even if it was too late for such pleas, and, as a young vampire, he had still not forgotten his own humanity enough to be unable to relate to the humanity of others – especially in a moment like this. That humanity stared at him from the frozen eyes of the corpses around him, and he could not answer them with mercy and respect since they were already dead. This distressed him far more than he had expected since he felt guilty for being the cause of these deaths.

It was still easier to kill someone innocent when not seeing their face; let them become objects rather than human beings. Once he was confronted with the manifestation of someone else’s face, it cut straight through him and made him spineless. There was a reason to why executioners had put hoods over the criminals’ heads, who had been sentenced to death. There was a reason to why people avoided eye contact with others. It was as though Slaine felt responsible for people the moment their faces manifested before him since he was yet to lose his humanity as a cursed creature. Right now, he found himself responsible for the ghastly faces of corpses facing him, but there was nothing he could do for them.

The further away he got from the busy areas, the fewer corpses he saw. Instead, he began treading into an area of the city where the dying lay scattered over a street, waiting for their final breath before falling into an eternal sleep among cursed creatures that drank blood from new victims lying obediently on the ground or in their assaulter’s arms. This was the most recent feeding area, to where captured humans were dragged to fall victim to the hungry monsters wanting to fill their exhausted veins with blood. The cursed creatures were much like dogs when feeding the curse; most of them wanted a calm and peaceful place to eat, dragging their victims away whether they were kicking and screaming or not. Once this area had been filled with enough dying humans to make this place somewhat unsettling for the cursed creatures, they would find another area to drag their victims to, fill it with dying humans and move on to the next area.

Slaine realized he had wandered into the worst place of the city. Ragged breaths were heard everywhere around him. Clogged throats rattled all around due to their owners not being strong enough to swallow down the fluids that gathered in the back of their throats. Spaced out eyes stared out into empty space while others looked straight at him, too weak to speak but strong enough to follow him with their gaze. Again, their faces were begging him for mercy. Again, he felt he should answer their pleas and assist them in any way he could.

‘ _But I don’t dare to!_ ’ he thought as the distressing feeling began to spread into his limbs, trying to push him into a run to escape the horrific scenes. ‘ _This is my fault. They’re dying because of me. I can’t face them!_ ’

He was too much of a coward. Slaine admitted that. He could not even bring himself to ask for forgiveness because he was afraid of his apology being rejected, even if he knew that was the least he could do for those dying around him; give them a last chance to tell him he should go to hell. It was simply impossible because of his spinelessness.

Then, he set his eyes on a human young man lying on a snowdrift next to a wall to a house after his assaulter released him to wander back into the city. The cursed soldier stopped to salute to Slaine, who did not answer him back. Instead, after a couple of seconds, the cursed soldier seemed to feel nervous and excused himself, telling his lord he had to go back to his duties. Something made Slaine’s attention stick to the human, forcing his gaze to wander up to the face of this young man who gasped for breath with a death rattle. His uniform was ripped open. His mouth was open in a silent scream as he gasped and stared up at the clear starry sky above with half-open eyes. He looked severely dehydrated; his throat must have hurt to breathe like that – especially in cold weather like this.

‘ _It must be nightmarish to lie there all alone and wait for death_ ,’ Slaine thought terrified and took a step closer.

The young man gasping with his last breaths noticed Slaine’s presence and turned his exhausted eyes to look at the approaching cursed count, and reacted with distress. The cursed blond wished he had the courage to say something, but he knew whatever he said would only sound like a terrible lie. He could not calm the human young man down by proving to him he was still somewhat human; he could not touch him with a hand warmed up by human heat to comfort him. He could not prove he still had the most of his humanity intact – that despite everything he had done recently, he could still feel compassion.

‘ _He looks like someone I know_ ,’ Slaine thought and peered at the human man who began coughing as he took a frightened breath when the cursed count moved. ‘ _He looks like…!_ ’

A horrible memory attacked his mind and the dying man’s face morphed into the face of Okisuke from Shinawara. More than two years had passed since Slaine had assisted a dying boy in the back of a truck, handling an earth-shattering moment all alone without knowing what to do. The innocent boy he had been back then had been so terrified of the moment of watching someone the same age as him die that it had etched itself into his memory. He had never gotten the chance to process his own emotions and thoughts from that moment after Okisuke’s death, and he had not understood how much that forgotten moment had affected him. Now, Slaine’s knees began to tremble. He was so terrified of watching the dying Okisuke again that he wanted to scream, but the terror was so great his voice was suffocated. He could only stare at him, frightened and panicked.

What could he do? What should he do?

‘ _Stop looking at me!_ ’ he thought and felt his breaths become still. ‘ _Don’t stare at me! I can’t help you anymore, Okisuke!_ ’

Even if Slaine had become to think little about killing others, the moment from Shinawara still shook him up violently. Was it because it had been such a horrible moment? Was it because he had not been allowed to understand what had happened before Trillram had attacked him? He had been strong enough to pull through that moment. Now, he was terrified of experiencing it anew.

‘ _Am I traumatized?_ ’ he thought and felt his anxiety grow the longer the young man stared at him.

“W-what … time is … it?” the soldier suddenly asked weakly with rattling breaths and a broken voice, and Slaine took a step back at this familiarly pointless question.

“ _Wh… What … weather is … it?_ ”

Panic erupted in the cursed blond who immediately backed away before he turned around to begin running, but was met by the dying face of Okisuke again in a woman lying a little further away on the other side of the street, staring at him as well with her mouth open in a silent scream.

“ _Why … you … with…?_ ”

“ _Why I’m with the vampires?_ ”

“ _Yes…_ ”

“ _To prevent them from attacking innocent like you by offering my blood instead. I’m a blood sacrifice… I failed. I’m sorry…_ ”

Slaine’s breath escaped him in a tremble as the moment of Okisuke’s death became all too real. This time, he could not handle it at all. One time had been enough and forced him to use all of his courage, and now he had no courage left for a second time. Instead, in a desperate attempt to escape the two dying Okisukes staring at him, he turned to hurry down the street, but, the moment he rounded a corner, another Okisuke came into view. He released a frightened gasp.

“ _Will I … become…?_ ”

“ _To turn and become one of them? If they fed you their blood you will. Did they do that?_ ”

“ _No…_ ”

“ _Then you won’t come back as one of them._ ”

It was like the earth trembled beneath his feet and the stars came crashing down from the sky. His mind was in utter chaos and his body erratic. Slaine did not have a chance to even wonder what was happening since he was so present in the frightening moment that he had no control over anything.

He had become like Trillram. He was a ruthless murderer who gave his own men the right to kill and torture those who fought for their right to live. The kindhearted Slaine, who had tried to prevent these kind of terrible deaths from occurring by offering his own blood instead, had become the exact monster he had tried to protect innocent humans from two years ago. Back then, he had tried to give his life to protect lives. Now, he took the lives of others. This realization had never been as true as it was now with the dying people around him, and he felt a need to escape.

And he did.

He began running down the snowy street, not looking at the dying humans around him. A small road to his left felt safe as it was hidden from spying eyes, and he rounded the corner of a house and hurried into the one meter wide street and continued forward.

Something crashed into him out of nowhere with such force he lost his balance and tumbled into a backyard of an abandoned house. A body rolled along with him over the untouched snow, and the moment Slaine stopped, face down against the ground, strong hands pinned his arms behind his back.

“Don’t move,” a familiar voice said. It resounded pleasantly in his ears. “Slaine.”

A shock dashed down his spine along with a horrified shiver.

“Orange…!” he gasped and felt the weight of the half-human young man on his back. The brown-haired young man – Inaho – had straddled his back.

“I came to get you,” the other said, and Slaine breathed in a sharp breath of panic.

‘ _I’m not done yet!_ ’ he thought and tried to turn around, but a gun cocked somewhere in front of him, and he looked up to meet the violet eyes of a girl he recognized.

“If you move, I’ll fucking empty this mag into your brain before I crush your skull with my boot,” the cursed girl dressed in a Versian uniform said while glaring at him with poisonous eyes.

Slaine stared at her with shock and felt his thoughts slowly turn into silent breezes. He had not noticed them at all, probably because he had been in such a panicked state when running that he had been too reckless and not kept an eye on the surroundings.

“Y-you can’t!” he said desperately. “You came too soon, Orange!”

“You told me to stop you. Now I have,” the brunet said calmly. There was a hint of satisfaction in his voice. “Don’t struggle.”

“Orange!” Slaine began and was just about to try pulling his arms free when the cursed girl stomped her boot on top of his head and added pressure. “ARGH!”

“I warned you, you piece of shit!” she growled with pure hate saturating her voice. “Don’t tempt me!”

“Careful, Rayet,” Orange said to her. “He saved your life once.”

“Why the hell should I care?!” she exclaimed quietly to not alarm any cursed creatures in the busy part of the city further down the streets. “He’s a damn tyrant now!”

‘ _No, I’m not!_ ’ Slaine thought and felt hopelessly pathetic. ‘ _I know I do cruel things, but I have no choice!_ ’

“We need to take him away from here,” Orange said instead and looked at the girl.

“To where?!” asked the other.

“I don’t know, but anywhere but here.”

“Or to the UN?” the cursed girl called Rayet confronted the brown-haired half-human, but Inaho stayed silent.

‘ _What is going on?_ ’ Slaine thought and took a deep breath.

“Orange… You can’t take me with you yet. I can’t die yet,” he whispered with a trembling voice. The cold was trying to crawl in through his clothing and the heating suit. “I’m not done yet.”

“Done with what?” Orange wondered and turned his attention to the cursed count.

Slaine bit his lower lip and frowned as he wondered what to say. Should he come clean and tell the brunet the truth? Would he believe in him? Would it kill his motivation to fight him?

“Listen,” Slaine said and tried to shake Rayet’s boot off his head, but the cursed girl increased her weight on it, forcing him to give up. “If you kill me now, this war will not end until Vers has taken over the entire world. Just wait a couple of months more. Just a little more.”

“Why is that, _Count_ Troyard?” Rayet asked with a snarl and ground Slaine’s head with her boot.

The cursed count gasped from pain as his cheek was nearly scratched open by the snow beneath it.

“Because…” Slaine said with a strained voice. “Vers is still unstable. They still believe you humans are the enemy.”

“Hmph!” the cursed girl answered: “And _you’ll_ change that, huh? Don’t make me laugh, you lying worm.”

“Rayet!” Orange suddenly exclaimed and looked at the girl, who silently stared at him with surprise. Then, the brunet turned his attention to Slaine again: “What are you talking about, Slaine?”

“Let me up…” Slaine begged pitifully. “I’ll tell you everything. I’ll accept that you caught me, so just let me up.”

It surprised him as he heard the brunet order the girl to step away from the cursed count, and, after a moment of arguing about it, she obeyed and took three steps back. Orange then released Slaine’s arms slowly, naively trusting the cursed creature by letting him go. Slowly, Slaine raised his body up from the snow and looked at them both. The red-haired girl stood one meter behind him, and Orange sat right in front of him.

“You came for me much sooner than I expected,” Slaine said with a weak smile. “I’m sorry if I can’t let you kill me yet.”

“I’m not here to-“ the brunet began, but Slaine interrupted him by getting up onto his feet so quickly he gave the others no time to reach.

He kicked against Inaho’s head and got a successful hit – not hard enough to cause too much damage, but hard enough the brunet slumped backwards into the snow – and, when the cursed girl jumped him from behind, he threw her over his shoulder. She slammed into the ground right before him, and Slaine whispered a silent apology before taking her gun to aim it against her head, and pulled the trigger. A bulled cut through her skull and into her brain, and the cursed girl began thrashing around on the ground. Instantly, Slaine began running. He needed to get away from them but he could not leave them completely alone in case a cursed soldier would be attracted to the cursed girl’s painful cries. He looked around for a good spot to spy from, and decided to hide in a house further down the street.

†††

As Inaho opened his eyes, he heard Rayet somewhere close by. Quickly, he got up from the snow and realized Slaine was gone and his teammate was rolling around on the ground, holding her head as if it was burning from the inside. She must have been shot with a silver bullet.

The brunet cursed himself for being betrayed by the silver-crowned prince simply because he was weak against him due to his feelings for the other. What a horribly miscalculated decision he had made, he thought, as he hurriedly took a hold of Rayet and pulled her inside the house after kicking the door open. He let her go once they were deep inside the house, and she continued thrashing around from pain on the floor. Inaho quickly pulled the field knife from the sheath strapped around his boot, rolled up the left sleeve of his orange uniform, and cut a wound on his arm.

“I know it’s tainted,” Inaho whispered and forced Rayet’s arm away from her face to get access to her mouth. “But bear with it for now until you feel better.”

He held his wound above Rayet’s lips and let the blood drip into her screaming mouth. The moment she felt the taste of blood, she tried to attack him instead. Thankfully, Inaho – as a fourth generation vampire – was strong enough to hold her down with one arm while letting his blood fall in between her lips from the other. She clawed at him and growled and hissed like an angry animal, but, after a couple of small gulps of blood, she became limp and weak.

“The bullet went through your head so you’ll be all right,” Inaho said quietly after examining her quickly. “I’ll have to leave you here, but the heating suit will keep you warm and you’re safe in here. I’ll come for you after I’ve found Slaine.”

Without losing anymore seconds of his precious time, he hurried back outside to the backyard and looked around for footsteps in the snow. He found a trail leading out of the backyard and hurried after it. It led into a house further down the street, but the building was empty of anything animated.

‘ _Where did you go?_ ’ Inaho wondered anxiously, desperately wanting to find the silver-crowned prince again to satisfy his need to hold him. ‘ _Don’t disappear from me!_ ’

He found the front door of the house open and dashed outside, and found the trail again and continued running. It was leading up into the forest on top of a hill, and Inaho followed it as fast as he could. The moment he got to the edge of the forest, he stopped and hesitated. Slaine’s trail led into a place where the protection of the lights from the city did not reach.

A chill ran down his spine when he left the safety of the dimmed light and stepped into the dark forest. No sound could be heard except his own breaths and the wild beatings of his heart; the snow insulated every other sound around him. Inaho tried to concentrate his sight so see in the darkness, from where he knew someone was staring back at him and followed him with their eyes like a hungry predator focusing their entire attention on their prey. Slaine was close by; eyes gleamed like two flickering fireflies from between the trees as the weak light from behind Inaho was reflected in them.

“Orange,” Inaho heard a silent whisper from the direction of his hunter, warning him with a cruel tone. “How dare you lose against me?” The hunter was wide awake, preying upon the human young man who dared to enter its newly conquered domain. “Why did you let me go? You should have known better.”

‘ _Attack me_ ,’ Inaho thought and hoped Slaine would do so gently.

“I’m struggling with myself since you are changing me into something I don’t recognize,” the brunet said and took a step closer while watching the gleaming eyes from between the trees. He would have been terrified to even move had his hunter been any other cursed creature but Slaine. Even so, he shivered slightly. Slaine was terrifying in his own right. “You didn’t kill me when you overpowered me. Why?”

The eyes looking at him blinked and began slowly moving to the creature’s right, keeping the brunet under constant observation. It was eerie how the cursed creature stared at Inaho, like it was ready to jump him any moment but waited for the right one. The brunet wanted to back away – he could not deny that – but he had to push through his fear. This creature in front of him – this terrifying cursed creature – was not the real Slaine, and he desperately reminded himself about it in order to be brave enough to stay here and face him.

‘ _Come at me_ …’

“Changing you? Stop spewing nonsense,” the hunter said. “I cannot kill you, since I still need you to stop me; that is true. You came too soon this time, which forced me to escape since I cannot let you claim me yet. Now, however, you are in my territory; on my hunting grounds.”

“You need me,” Inaho pointed out. “There’s no reason for me to fear you, is there?”

“Of course there is,” the cursed creature chuckled and stopped. “You want me to repeat what I did in Vladivostok?”

Inaho hesitated and stared at the other. He knew Slaine would not be merciful if he attacked him to rape him again. This time, Inaho was sure the silver-crowned prince was ready to face the brunet on different terms since he was now familiar with Inaho’s words of love. If that was what needed to happen, then Inaho would give in. If he could only hold his beloved himself, he thought, he would be truly happy. He wanted to express his love for him; let Slaine know how precious he was by allowing the brunet to hold him while lying vulnerable in Inaho’s arms. The brunet would not hurt him. He would not rape him. He would only love him and prove to the cursed blond how precious Inaho thought he was.

“Then do it,” Inaho said and relaxed his body, standing still and unguarded, ready to hand himself over to the cursed blond. “I won’t fight you.”

His answer took Slaine by surprise; the silver-crowned prince went silent and only stared at him without blinking, but Inaho waited patiently.

‘ _Come to me, Slaine_ ,’ he thought while watching the flickering gleam before him.

†††

Slaine was baffled by the brunet’s fearlessness. Was the other this out of it because he loved him that Orange allowed Slaine to abuse him? It was unbelievable how self-sacrificial his opponent was, by willingly becoming the cursed blond’s toy.

‘ _What is going on?_ ’ he thought and frowned. ‘ _He doesn’t know where he should take me if he captures me. Why doesn’t he know that?_ ’ he then wondered as he remembered back to the brunet’s and the cursed girl’s hasty and unproductive dialogue earlier. ‘ _He isn’t as capable as I thought?_ ’

“That is quite brave of you,” Slaine said after a while of pondering. “Why not fight me?”

“Do I have to?” the other asked curtly, and Slaine was taken aback again.

“If you let me capture you, I will humiliate you again,” the cursed blond warned.

“I don’t mind,” Orange answered.

‘ _What is he up to?_ ’ the cursed count wondered and felt greatly confused of Orange’s lack of resistance, and asked:

“Why not?”

“I don’t have that kind of pride when it’s you,” was the answer. “If that is what you want to do, then I’ll let you do that.”

Somehow, Slaine thought of this difficult exchange as familiar. They had had a conversation similar to this one before. He ransacked his brain and remembered the island called Tanegashima. There, in an abandoned house in the military base, he and Orange had exchanged questions and answers with similar awkwardness. In a way, Slaine remembered that time with pleasantness. How naïve and innocent they had been back then. It had been a little more than two years ago, and, yet, it felt like a lifetime since both of them had grown a lot since then.

“Because you love me?” Slaine decided to ask.

“Yes,” the other answered frankly, and Slaine scoffed:

“Even if it is one-sided?”

“Yes.”

‘ _Stop doing this!_ ’ the cursed creature thought with frustration; they were getting nowhere with this conversation.

Instead, Slaine decided to give the brunet a warning and attacked him. Orange stood unmoving, as if willingly letting himself be captured. The cursed blond reached all the way up to the brunet and grabbed a ruthless hold of his orange uniform, swung him around and pushed him up against a tree. Orange released a pained huff as the air was knocked out of him before Slaine pinned his arms behind his back with one hand and leaned closer to whisper into his ear:

“You annoy me, Inaho Kaizuka.” The brunet shivered at feeling Slaine’s whisper against his ear, and the hair’s on his neck rose up as goosebumps seemed to spread over his skin. The neck hiding behind the brown tousled hair looked far more tempting than Slaine had expected. Perhaps he was hungry? “This is a peaceful place to feed my curse,” he continued. Orange released a trembling breath, and Slaine purred: “You like this?”

The air around the brunet was suddenly anticipating, as though he wanted Slaine to rule him like this and bite him.

“Slaine…” the brunet whispered with affection while trembling.

“You want me to bite you and take you against this tree? How perverted,” the cursed blond continued with a chuckle and pushed Orange’s arm further up to make his joints hurt. Orange groaned from pain and arched his back. “You are not protesting even when it hurts. Are you getting aroused perhaps?”

“I told you I- Aghh! … love you, Slaine,” the other gasped.

“Liar,” Slaine accused him and frowned. “Your emotions are not yours anyway. Before you knew Asseylum was still alive, you told me you loved me because Asseylum could not. Those emotions belong to someone else; her.”

“No, you’re wrong,” Orange groaned as Slaine pushed his arms higher against his shoulder blades. “That day in Malaysia,” he continued with a pained gasp. “I realized that those … emotions were mine and not hers. T-take what you need from me, because I love you.”

Curiously, Slaine raised his free hand to touch Orange’s cheek. The brunet jumped from the sudden touch of the leather glove but did no resistance. He allowed Slaine to examine his jawline with his fingertips and let them follow it to the chin. From there, Slaine traced the fingers over his chin and up to the brunet’s lips, and forced them inside his mouth. His prey only gasped from surprise, keeping his mouth open and did not bite the fingers invading his mouth. He even allowed Slaine to caress his tongue without resisting.

“You truly are obedient,” the cursed blond then whispered, relieved to wear the gloves so he would not get affected by the other’s warmth. He pulled his fingers out of the brunet’s mouth and caressed his palm over the back of Orange’s head and all the way down to his neck. The cursed creature’s teeth tingled violently, telling him his body should to be fed. “Lean your head to the right. Let me feast on you.”

When Orange obeyed by slowly exposing the left side of his neck to the vampire, Slaine leaned closer and took a breath of the human’s scent. It smelled just like he remembered it from Vladivostok; it smelled pleasantly human. The warmth radiating from the brunet’s neck made the cursed creature somewhat weak and great lust blossomed up from knowing he had a warm human body to use however he wished if he wanted to.

Without another word, he licked Orange’s neck to wet it, which coaxed a pleasured gasp from between his prey’s lips, and then took a hold of the brunet’s hair and punctured his neck. The tingling sensation was calmed as he felt the needle-like teeth sink into his flesh, and blood began flowing up from the wounds. The prey shivered violently and gasped from satisfaction before the cursed venom began flowing through his veins and numbed him. Slaine caught him the moment Orange collapsed, but felt suddenly weaker than he should.

‘ _My head…!_ ’ he thought surprised and felt like his muscles began to shut down one after another. His knees trembled beneath his and Orange’s weight, and, soon, he collapsed into the snow with Orange in front of him, both lying on their side in the snow. The monochrome world began spinning before his eyes and he felt completely drugged. ‘ _H-his blood…_ ’ he thought and realized Orange had tainted it. ‘ _Damn it!_ ’

He tried to move his body, but it was so heavy he could only move his hand slightly and take deep breaths of the cold air in a desperate attempt to clear his mind. That only chilled his airways instead, which made him hold his breath.

‘ _Don’t wake up…_ ’ the blond prayed and stared at Orange’s slumped body in front of him. He could not allow Orange to capture him and remove him from his position as a cursed count yet.

To his horror, Orange took a slow but deep breath before pushing his tired body up from the ground. He raised a weak hand to his head to rub it before shaking it as if to clear his thoughts. Then, he looked up at Slaine, who gritted his teeth best he could and cursed the brunet for what he had done to him.

“H-how dare … you?” Slaine gasped with slurred words and tried to gather as much strength he possibly could to save some of his dignity and at least get up from the ground. “Ugh!” he gasped as he had managed to push himself up just slightly, but collapsed back into the snow.

“Slaine…” Orange whispered and shuffled closer while on his knees, reaching out a hand to caress the cured blond’s bangs away from his eyes.

“D-don’t … touch me!” the cursed count hissed weakly, but could not pull away from the other’s touch.

“Finally,” he listened to the other whisper, and a stunning smile spread on Orange’s lips.

‘ _Don’t-!_ ’ the blond thought helplessly as he felt his mind spin from watching the smile that once again affected him.

“Finally I got you, Slaine,” Orange said with a warm and loving tone, and removed his gloves to push his warm hands against the cursed count’s cheeks. Slaine’s body grew even weaker. “I’m sorry for poisoning you, but you would otherwise never let me touch you like this.”

“You’re mad…!” Slaine said weakly and wanted to smack Orange’s hands away. “I don’t … want your touch…”

“But you do,” the brunet whispered and widened his smile. He leaned closer to Slaine’s lips. “I love you, Slaine. Let me give you my warmth. Take it all.”

“D-don’t you dare-“ Slaine threatened, but was interrupted by Orange pushing up the burgundy coat just enough to reach the button and zipper to Slaine’s trousers. “N-no…!”

Orange ignored him and pushed his hand inside the first layer of fabric. He continued opening the heating suit beneath and invaded it as well, before he finally cupped his hand around Slaine’s crotch – skin to skin. The cursed blond released a weak gasp from the human warmth replacing the heat of the suit before looking up at the brunet’s gentle gaze look back at him with that attractive smile playing on his lips.

“I won’t hurt you, Slaine,” Orange whispered and finally placed his lips over Slaine’s, kissing him softly while he began moving his hand between the cursed blond’s legs.

“Mmh!” Slaine protested and felt the sweet taste of Orange’s tongue.

The hot kiss was slowly taking away his will to resist, and the hand between his legs gently rubbed his passion, making it harder for each stroke. It tingled violently in Slaine’s loins, making him want to squirm if he only could. He could feel Orange’s fingers begin his stroke at the base, pulling his hand up and gently rub the sensitive tip, coil his fingers around the flesh and then pull his hand down to pull the foreskin with it. Slowly, he then pulled his hand up again, all the way up to the tip to massage the tip and squeeze a little harder, before relaxing his grip and pull it down again. Slaine could only weakly moan with their lips locked onto each other’s, but released a surprised whimper as Orange – Inaho – squeezed the base just slightly and rubbed it with short strokes, teasing him.

‘ _Why…?_ ’ Slaine thought hazily and felt drunk from unexpected lust. ‘ _Why is he doing this?_ ’

“Mmmh…” he simply moaned instead, unable to question the other’s actions.

‘ _Inaho…_ ’

The brown-haired spell caster licked his tongue gently and rubbed and coiled theirs slowly together, making sure both of them could feel each other properly. Their lips moved with biting motions, as if devouring each other slowly, and Inaho changed the angle of the kiss now and then and increasingly kissed the other with more passion. The warm saliva from the cursed blond’s assaulter tasted wonderful, Slaine realized, and he felt more and more intoxicated by lust. He was a true vampire after all; quick to give in to lust and pleasure.

“Haahh…” he gasped as Inaho released his lips to look at him with his face hovering close to Slaine’s.

“Is it good?” he asked quietly and studied Slaine’s expression with great care.

‘ _I have no time for this!_ ’ the cursed blond thought and tried to resist his weak will of fighting the brunet.

“L-let go…!” he gasped and closed his eyes to hide from the brunet’s prying eyes. “Mmh! S-stop…!”

“No,” Inaho answered curtly and pushed his lips against Slaine’s again, forcing the cursed blond to helplessly accept his kisses.

“Mmph…!” the blond cried out instead and somehow managed to find strength to at least grab Inaho’s shoulder and grip the orange uniform with weak fingers. “Hmmhh!

‘ _Please stop!_ ’ he thought and tried to fight him. ‘ _Don’t drag me down to become a simple animal in heat!_ ’

Inaho seemed to have decided to advance some more, letting go of Slaine’s heated flesh and coiled his arm around the cursed blond’s waist, tracing the sensitive skin inside his underwear all the way to the back. Curiously, the brunet pushed his hand down to grip one of the blond’s fleshy cheeks and squeezed it gently.

“Mmph,” Slaine moaned and wanted to push Inaho away, but he was too weak to even try. Instead, Inaho squeezed harder, dragging his nails gently over the cursed creature’s skin. “Mmh!”

‘ _Stop! Stop this!_ ’ Slaine thought desperately as he began to feel the vamp in him want to give in to Inaho’s lust. It was unfair. He wanted to decide who got to do this to him, but the brunet simply helped himself to play with his body in whatever way he wished, making Slaine’s lust throb harder and harder. ‘ _I don’t want him to own me like this! Not him!_ ’

“Slaine…” he heard the brunet whisper as he pulled his lips away, before attacking his mouth again and plunged his tongue in between Slaine’s lips.

A daring hand reached down inside Slaine’s underwear and a finger caressed him all the way from behind the aching organs wanting release, to the bud between his buttocks. The fingertip began teasing the entrance, which was soft and relaxed due to the drug in his system, and Slaine released a protesting gasp through his nose. If Inaho pushed his finger inside, Slaine was sure he would give up completely.

“P-please…!” he gasped as he turned his head away.

“You didn’t stop when I begged you, did you?” Inaho asked quietly and stared at Slaine’s face.

He was drunk with lust and need; his gaze and expression revealed it shamelessly clearly.

“A-are you…” Slaine gasped and stared at him with unpleasant confusion. “… doing this as … retaliation…?”

“No,” Inaho answered and kept staring at Slaine’s expression that frowned when the brunet pushed his fingertip just slightly inside him, teasing the entrance. “I do this because I want to show you how much I love you.”

“L-love me…?” Slaine asked and gasped. “This isn’t … love. It’s rape…”

“I learned that sometimes you need someone to push you over the edge to realize things about yourself,” the brunet whispered and licked Slaine’s lips before studying his expression again, clearly finding great pleasure from just watching the cursed blond react to his hands and words. “You did that with me in Vladivostok. Now, I’m doing it to you, so don’t resist me.”

“Y-you’re so … warped!” the blond gasped and gritted his teeth weakly while staring at the other, begging him not to proceed.

“You made me like this,” the brunet whispered and waited for a short moment to build up Slaine’s anticipation.

Their breath’s mingled for that short moment while they stared at each other without uttering a single word, Inaho holding his finger right against Slaine’s entrance, slightly buried between the soft fleshy cushions. The cursed blond’s muscles begged for more; the human warmth was intoxicatingly pleasant and he wanted to feel more of it. Inaho watched him closely as though he refused to miss any change in Slaine’s expression, and, finally, the brunet pushed his finger inside the cursed blond, who felt an incredible surge course through him at the heat reaching inside him.

“Haahhh…” he helplessly gasped, closing his eyes and turning his head away yet again.

After pushing his finger as far inside him as it would go, Inaho froze. Confused of why the other had stopped, Slaine turned to look at him again only to see shock on the other’s expression.

“Who?” the brunet asked briskly.

“W-what…?” Slaine breathed and tried to struggle again, but was still too weak to do anything to escape the other.

“Who have you been with?” Inaho asked, looking more and more riled up from some kind of anger.

Slaine stared at him, not understanding what the half-human was talking about. A vampire-like look began to flame up in the brunet’s eye, and Slaine began to feel somewhat sober from the intoxicating lust that had just a moment earlier managed to persuade his mind to giving in to the brunet’s need.

’ _Who…?_ ’ the cursed blond wondered, and then realized what Inaho had discovered: ‘ _I bedded Harklight before coming here._ ’

“I-Inaho…” Slaine said weakly and tried to gather his strength to explain, but then stopped as he understood he felt obliged, for no proper reason, to clarify he had been with someone else.

As Slaine fell silent and decided not to answer Inaho’s intruding question, the brunet got frustrated. He was jealous. The curse was raging in him because he was jealous. How pitiful. Slaine hated he could not fight back – that he had fallen into this vulnerable state which made him victim to Inaho’s jealousy.

†††

How could this be possible? He could not believe it. Why did Slaine have someone else’s passion inside him? Why was he not the one to force Slaine to the same edge he had been forced to in Vladivostok? He was supposed to be the one who showed Slaine how it felt to be vulnerable in the arms of someone who loved him. He was supposed to be the one to awaken Slaine like that, but someone had gotten to do that first. Did the cursed blond have a lover? Had this unknown man claimed Slaine and his emotions completely? Was that why the other made such resistance?

‘ _No!_ ’ Inaho thought with brutal jealousy, unable to accept such a horrific truth. ‘ _He belongs to me. I am the one who loves him more than anything. I was supposed to make him feel vulnerable in someone’s arms for the first time!_ ’

The brunet had not even considered Slaine having someone else to do this to him. How was he supposed to take it in now and accept it? All this time, he had been thinking of no one but Slaine, and now someone else had come to take him away from him. The wetness inside the weak blond was the proof of that; someone else had held Slaine’s body and given it pleasure.

The hurt and jealousy grew so unbearable Inaho finally crumbled. He had to fix this mistake. Slaine had made a mistake and nothing more. He had probably been confused by this other man, who had made the cursed blond believe he was loved. That could not be it. No one could love him more than Inaho.

Even if nervousness shined in his beloved’s eyes, Inaho paid it no mind. He had to quickly restore what had been broken, and took a hold of the cursed count’s coat and forced him to face the ground. Slaine released a pained gasp as he was mercilessly thrown around, and he weakly tried to grab a hold of Inaho’s hands to stop him from pulling down the clothing covering his behind.

“I-Inaho…! N-no!” the brunet heard the other gasp, but he ignored it and opened the zipper to his uniform and freed his hard meat from its soft prison.

“It’s all right,” the brunet then said and pulled Slaine’s clothing down enough to get access to his entrance while still protecting him from the cold. “Don’t worry. I’ll fix this.”

“W-what are you…? Fix … what?” the cursed blond gasped and tried to struggle, but to no avail.

Inaho did not answer. Instead, he guided his stiff flesh to the cursed blond’s entrance and began immediately to push it inside. It throbbed from jealousy as though it screamed angrily to the brunet to hurry up and show Slaine who truly loved him. It slipped in easily because of the cursed blond’s drugged and relaxed state, but also due to the semen from this unknown man who had defiled his silver-crowned prince.

“Hahhh…. Slaine,” Inaho gasped out of distressed love. He pushed all the way inside, feeling Slaine’s buttocks against his hips. “It slipped inside so easily…” he whispered and added pressure to push even deeper.

“Aagh…! S-stop!” the cursed blond gasped and clawed at the snow with the leather-gloved hands while shivering from the human heat pushed into him.

“Forget about him… Mmmh,” the brunet whispered. “No one … can love you like I do…”

“What’s … w-wrong with … you?!” the blond managed to say out loud, but released a helpless yelp when Inaho pulled out and pushed back in without warning. “Aahh! Mmph!”

It felt more incredible than he had imagined. He could feel the pattern of Slaine’s fleshy walls rub all over his heat, and they did it so pleasantly his mind was overwhelmed and his heart began beating harder compared to how it had hammered out of jealousy. Even if the cursed blond’s flesh was colder than a human body, it still felt wonderful as it stimulated the brunet’s meat for the first time.

His loins tingled violently, begging for more, and he began moving faster and harder for each thrust, forcing desperate moans and gasps from his beloved who rocked beneath him. Inaho noticed that if he relaxed his back a little and allowed his hips to swing freely and rhythmically, he could use the built up momentum and Slaine’s rocking to push deep inside the cursed blond with each thrusts without exhausting his muscles too early. He could slowly build up the force behind the thrusts, and it did not take long until Slaine tried to push his body up from the ground or trying to crawl away from him.

“Don’t,” Inaho ordered with a gasp and took a hold of Slaine’s right arm and pinned it behind the pitiful blond’s back.

“Aahhh… Haahhh…! I-Inaho… D-don’t! Mmmh!” the cursed blond begged with whimpers and moans. His voice sounded sultry, as if he was putting up a struggle mostly for show.

‘ _I don’t have to respect that_ ,’ the brunet thought and slammed his hips against Slaine’s behind forcefully enough the obnoxious sound drowned out every other silent sound around them.

His teeth and nails began to itch again. They had begun to do that ever since what had happened between him and Slaine in Vladivostok. He wanted to bury them in the cursed blond’s neck and he wanted to claw at his back. Luckily, he was so much in control over these impulses he could successfully resist them.

He kept pounding into his vulnerable lover, believing he was showing the greatest love that existed only for him. Whoever had touched and misguided Slaine earlier, Inaho was now erasing the feeling of the other and replacing him with himself, forcing his beloved to understand who the true one for him was.

“S-stop! You’re … hurting me…” Slaine exclaimed suddenly and seemed to have gotten some strength back as he began pulling his arm free from Inaho’s grip, but still to no avail. “Haahhh! O-ow! Get off…!”

“Why won’t you understand?!” Inaho blurted angrily. “I’m the one who loves you!”

“Stop…!”

“Whoever did this to you, forget about them! They’re using you – misleading you only to satisfy their lust,” the brunet continued, spurred to say what he thought was a cruel truth. He grabbed a hold of Slaine once again, and forced him down on his back to look him in the eyes. “Do you realize how beautiful you are?!” he then scolded and pounded into him hard enough the cursed blond cried out from pain. “They’ll rip you to shreds if you let them-“

His words escaped him now that he realized what he was looking at; Slaine was crying, weakly raising his hands to hide his tears. The brunet stopped moving at seeing this sight, holding his breath since he could only stare at him, cursing the crime he had committed.

“Y-you’re … the one ripping me to … shreds,” the blond said quietly.

‘ _What have I … done?_ ’ the brunet asked himself as he stared shocked at the blond. He released the other, pulling back to free the other from his oppressive body. ‘ _How could I…?_ ’

“Slaine…” he said quietly as Slaine rolled onto his side to curl up. “I’m sorry…”

“That curse,” Slaine whispered while hiding his face from the brunet. “It’s affecting you, isn’t it…?”

Inaho raised a hand to look at it to see if he was still in his own body. It felt so strange how he had given into raging emotions without realizing it.

“I’m … not sure what is going on,” he said shocked.

Slaine weakly pulled his clothing back up while crying, and then pushed his body up onto shaking arms that protested under his weight. He hid his face behind the silvery bangs, and avoided to look at the brunet when he said:

“You’re insane. You speak about love … while raping the one you claim to love, clearly not seeing it as abuse.” He took a deep breath and almost fell back down onto the ground, but he managed to hold himself up. “Had you done it … out of spite or simply for revenge for what I did, then I could have accepted it, but…”

He went silent. Inaho could only stare at him without knowing what to say. He had never been good at comforting someone, let alone known what to say in a moment where any word could be a cut to the heart. He was even afraid to touch the other.

“I guess I deserve this,” the blond then said quietly and looked up at the brunet with an exhausted look, as if he was giving up his pride all together with that simple gesture. “But hold out a little more… I- I will have to settle things … first before I can c-come with you. Try to catch me again; next time I’ll be ready,” he whispered and lowered his gaze. “If this … is what you want to do to me once … this all is over, I’ll present myself to you … next time you catch me.”

“No, this is not how I intend-“ the brunet began in an attempt to explain his blunder and ask for forgiveness so that Slaine knew he was not a monster, but he was interrupted by Slaine suddenly raising a hand to a microphone around his throat.

Instantly, his beloved’s face paled completely into the same color as the snow. He began trembling visibly, clearly panicking as he heard the message from whoever called him. Quickly, he tried to get up on his feet, but he collapsed onto his knees. He tried to crawl on all four toward the city below the hill, but he collapsed all together into the snow.

“Slaine!”

Inaho hurried up to him this time, helping him up from the ground.

“Asseylum…” Slaine said and looked at him with a mind that was about to break from weighty stress. “She’s awake too soon. I h-have to… I have to go to… To…”

‘ _Mazuurek did it!_ ’ Inaho thought and felt shocked to see Slaine’s reaction to the news of the cursed princess awakening. ‘ _But why am I not relieved?_ ’

It was as though the world came tumbling down and buried Slaine beneath its rubble. A silent scream of severe anxiety pushed up through the cursed blond’s throat, and he raised his weak hands to grip his silvery-blond hair. He began rocking back and forth, bumping his head against Inaho’s shoulder in the process, and the brunet put his arms around him as his beloved looked terribly pitiful. That instant, Slaine collapsed against him and cried:

“I can’t do this…! I can’t…! Everything is too hard!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, this was heavy to write! I'm all cross-eyed and my brain has been smashed (still having a cold, so that's why I've had time to write this chapter this early). Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Do you feel the ending coming closer? :3
> 
> (Those two A-holes deserve each other... *heavy sigh*)


	38. The Fortune’s Fool – Dream’s Edge

“ _M-my lord! The princess has woken up!_ ” was the call that made his mind crumble completely. “ _My lord?_ ” the little voice of the cursed handmaiden continued when Slaine gave her no answer.

Asseylum had woken up. He should have been happy about her opening her eyes, which have been closed for over two years, but this news was devastating him. It was like an earthquake had struck his mind. All of his thoughts slipped through his fingers just like sand, freezing his ability to actively think of what to do. Only panicked reactions – much like spontaneous sparks in his broken mind and exhausted body – made his muscles move, and he tried to get up from the snowy ground to hurry back to Tharsis, to Princess Asseylum’s side.

“ _My lord?_ ” the little voice asked distressed while his knees buckled beneath him.

Instinctively, he broke the fall with his arms that were instantly buried in the soft and white blanket of snow and, with a weak and frustrated whimper – sounding more like a strained breath – he pushed his body forward to crawl toward the city outside the forest. His weak limbs shook beneath him and his fatigued back and shoulders protested against his weight. Despite that, he pushed forward with great urgency to get back to the ship and take control of a situation that risked blowing out of the allowed proportions. He had to get back there and take control before everything he had built came crumbling down too soon.

She should not wake up yet. It was too soon. The world was not ready to accept her impossible return. If she strayed outside her room, nothing of what Slaine had worked so hard for would come to be. Vers would be struck by great confusion, and the rest was wild speculations of how the chaotic events following would be played out. Perhaps his ways of doing things were wrong, but these ways were the only ones he knew and were the easiest for someone with limited experience of politics and war. Asseylum was not allowed to interfere until he allowed her to, and this thought alone – the realization he even thought like that – frightened him.

After just a couple of attempts to crawl through the snow, he collapsed and froze from inability to make a decision or come up with an idea of what to do. He felt so lost. Nothing in his mind had a beginning or an end; it was a jumbled mess of unfinished and unformed thoughts that incapacitated him to do anything. They overwhelmed him along with the intense feelings of helplessness and fear.

“Slaine!” he heard the assaulter’s voice from somewhere behind him, and, soon, strong hands took a hold of him to raise him up and turned him around.

Slaine met the burgundy gaze watching him with concern, and he felt so lonely over the fact that this person was the only one he could cling to now. There was no name he could call to ask for help; he was all alone. Harklight, Lemrina and Eddelrittuo could not offer him the support he needed, and the only other person he had any kind of bond to was the young man who had just moments earlier forced himself on him. Was there truly no one else? Was this brown-haired heartless half-human the only one who could hold him in this time of need?

‘ _I’m breaking_.’

“Asseylum…” Slaine said and stared at the brunet, giving in to his own fear and accepted the other as his only support. “She’s awake too soon. I h-have to…”

“ _My lord? Are you there, Count Troyard?_ ” the distressed young voice said in his headphone, interrupting his chaotic mind from finishing the thought he had tried to convey to his assaulter.

“I have to go to…”

“ _Lord Troyard, what do I do? Please answer!_ ”

“To…”

That was where his mind halted entirely from the increasing pressure to think of something to answer, and his emotions took over; thoughts could not be formed anymore.

Instead, tremendous grief washed over him as he noticed how acutely stressed he was. He was in a crisis. His task of bringing the human and cursed worlds together was too big; it demanded too much from him, to the point he was at a loss of how to handle this unexpected situation that had emerged from nowhere. He had no tools to use in order to answer to the situation’s demands; he had no way of coping.

The entire war with China had been difficult, but, today, he had been forced to deal with several stressing factors and not been allowed to settle with the first shock before standing face-to-face with the next. It had become several layers of suffocating wet blankets covering him; all of them too heavy to move so he could free himself.

The images of the dying Okisuke that had emerged in his mind, being assaulted while being locked inside a drugged body, and now the cursed princess waking up had disabled him to protect his emotional core from shattering. He felt as though his chest had been ripped open, revealing his innermost and fragile being to the brown-haired enemy in front of him, looking at him with an apologetic expression. The cursed blond’s fragility was unbearably exposed, so much that he felt his own existence being questioned.

This overwhelming helplessness and distress of having lost control of his being made him finally break down. He crumbled more than ever before, and a voiceless scream erupted from his throat through which he begged and pleaded for mercy. If someone could hear it – whoever did not matter – he would be grateful if they refrained from seizing the opportunity to avenge their loved ones or let their dangerous emotions out on him. If he was just allowed to cry with someone holding him, then he would feel a little stronger. Just this once, he wanted a break. Just this once, he wanted to be allowed to cry in safe arms.

As the handmaiden tried to get a sign from him again, he felt full of emotion – so saturated he wanted to vomit it all out. He felt so much bigger than his body that he felt like he was about to blow. Mindlessly, he raised his weak hands to his hair as the overwhelming feeling increased, and he pulled at it since he was oblivious to what else he could do. In a desperate attempt to ease this horrible feeling, he began rocking back and forth while listening to Eddelrittuo’s voice call for him with an all the more distressed voice, and, within moments, he rocked violently enough his forehead bumped against the brunet’s shoulder.

Just a moment later, kind arms wrapped around him. Someone had heard his cry – someone who was willing to hold him and let him break and cry without hurting him. How distorted it was to be held lovingly by the same person who had assaulted him just moments earlier. Then again, if this was the best he could get, he would take it out of desperation; he collapsed into his enemy’s arms, feeling too small to have room to feel and think at the same time.

“I can’t do this…! I can’t…! Everything is too hard!” he cried hopelessly while Eddelrittuo’s voice in his earpiece began to sound like she was crying. She seemed terrified as well. “What do I do…? Tell me: What do I do?” He released his hair and gripped Inaho’s orange uniform, pulling at it in a clingy manner. “I can’t think … of anything! E-everything’s a mess! W-what do I do? Please tell me!”

“Slaine,” Inaho said softly into his ear and finally wrapped his arms tightly enough around the crying blond that their bodies pushed against each other’s. The brunet held him so preciously he might as well begin to believe he truly loved him. “Calm down,” the soft voice continued. “Just calm down and let the shock subside, and tell me what you’re planning. Then we can think of something.”

Those words made him release a weak whimper from relief. They sounded profound, as though they stitched his open chest together somewhat to give room for thought; someone was willing to carry his burden with him for a little while, and that alone made him feel a little bit stronger.

The heat from the brunet kept his cheeks warm where he buried his face in the crook of the other’s neck, taking in a deep breath of the human smell that soothed him some more. Again, he was giving into the human nature of someone else; he was unable to ignore it even in a moment like this.

“I-Inaho…” he whispered and tightened his arms around the other as hard as his drugged body allowed, accepting the other as his savior. “She can’t be seen yet… I have to become a third part in this war before that. If China falls completely into my hands…” He took a deep breath before he continued: “… I’ll be strong enough military wise to be just that … but weak enough to lose if both Vers and you humans unite to fight me.”

A hand brushed through his hair and the brunet became silent for a while. Slaine was sure he was thinking and allowed him to ponder on what he had said in peace. Meanwhile, he tried to shake his panic away by wallowing in the humanity of the precious other who was willing to support him, hoping Inaho would be able to help him in whatever little way there was, since he felt completely lost.

“And to achieve that, you need Seylum to reappear because of her dream to unite our worlds?” the brunet asked, and the cursed blond nodded weakly. “And that is why you’ve been honoring her in your speeches ever since you got a voice in the cursed society?”

Slaine nodded again.

“I have tried to make her into a symbol of peace, since peace was her wish, and the cursed and humans know this. If she can take control of my chaos…” The blond hesitated for a little while; the words he would speak felt painful. A deep breath later, he continued: “Then I’m sure the cursed will listen, and the humans will jump at the chance to cooperate. Then, the rest is up to her and you humans…”

“And what will happen to you?” Inaho wondered, sounding somewhat worried.

“You will kill me,” the blond whispered and felt his tears begin to flow again. “I’m a coward you see…” he then whispered with a melancholy smile. “I’m too scared to let her kill me, and I’m afraid she won’t be able to do it. That’s why…” Slaine pushed himself up to look at the brunet, revealing his tear-stained smile. Inaho’s expression was completely devoid of emotion. “I need you – a human who cooperates with her – to end me, so that the illusion of peace can start to take form. As long as I’m alive, those who support my cause will fight her as well, but if I die, they’ll be left without a leader and be forced to succumb to the new world order.”

“Slaine, that’s-“

The blond was surprised to hear the brunet wanted to protest, but he could not allow him to voice that thought; he needed to cut it off, since he feared that if he let Inaho word his thoughts, they would take over him and control his actions. Thoughts alone – in all honor – were powerful tools, but to voice them made them into reality, he believed.

“I’ve been trying to do away with those nobles who I suspect would not accept her return and take over their assets so that I can take control of their military, but that job hasn’t been finished yet.” A trembling and deep breath interrupted him, and he sighed heavily and let his body slump, conveying the overwhelmed state he was in. “You came too soon for me, Inaho… I’m not finished yet. I underestimated you.”

Pity suddenly emerged in the other’s expression when he realized what Slaine had been doing all this time. The cursed blond did not blame him for believing he had been completely insane and selfish, since that was what he had tried to convey to the world.

“You’ll take the entire blame down with you to the grave?” the brunet asked. “What about those you care about?”

Slaine shook his head, answering.

“I have no such people around me; I only use others for short-term comfort in order to survive the entire process all the way to its end. I’ll make them hate me before I die to cut the ties with them and make them believe they were betrayed and fooled to follow me. That way, they have a slighter chance to be pardoned if they’re caught and prosecuted for doing what I have ordered them to.”

“That’s not right,” the brunet said with a stricter tone. “You should let them grieve for you if you have made them care for you, and let them decide how they want to honor that. What they feel is real even if it’s a lie from your part. You can’t decide people’s destinies like that.”

Slaine frowned and stared at him, shocked to hear the brunet disagreed with him.

“I’m taking my responsibility of what I have done by not dragging them down with me,” he argued, but met yet another argument as an answer:

“No matter how horrible their fates might be, they are still responsible for what they have done, and, no matter how much you have lied to them, they should decide if they want to follow you to the grave or at least be allowed to grieve for losing someone they care about. That’s much kinder than what you have planned. For their sake, you should keep the illusion alive.” Inaho took a hold of his shoulders and stared at him deeply in the eyes. “You’re just being selfish because you feel guilty of what you have done to them. Stop insulting them like that.”

“It’s a grander insult if I keep lying to them!” the blond exclaimed with tears emerging anew.

‘ _Don’t talk back at me!_ ’ he thought and began to tremble yet again. ‘ _I can’t handle it!_ ’

“No, that’s just a way to avoid taking responsibility for your actions. They’re autonomous beings, and you are not an Atlas who can carry their mistakes and crimes on your shoulders,” the brunet said and pulled him into his embrace again, saying softly: “You’re not a titan from the ancient stories you tell.”

Slaine’s breath was caught in his throat from hearing that, and he did not breathe for a long time. Instead, he stared absentmindedly at the starry sky above the treetops while snowflakes – blown down from the branches by the gentle wind – danced around him. Further away, in the city down the hill, quiet cheers and song were heard by the cursed soldiers celebrating their victory. All other sounds were barely heard in the still evening, except for Inaho’s breaths.

“H-how did you … know?” he finally asked after they had been silent for what felt like an eternity.

“Seylum told me,” the half-human answered frankly. “She told me how you used to tell her enthralling stories about ancient heroes and gods. She told me you used to tell her a story with the theme she asked for, and you complied and even tried to act the story out to her when you were little. A one-man play she called it. She enjoyed those moments a lot.”

The smile of the cursed princess shone in his memory, and he could almost hear her giggle and laugh to his improvised story times and plays. The Slaine who had been able to do that had begun to fade away, consumed and eradicated by the curse, and would probably never make her smile and laugh like that again.

‘ _Asseylum…_ ’ the cursed blond thought and felt his undead heart begin to bleed.

“That’s the Slaine I fell in love with on Seylum’s behalf,” the brunet whispered and tightened his arms around him again. “Then you stopped,” Inaho continued. “You kept telling her stories, but you stopped acting them out for her the moment you were recruited as a blood sacrifice. She grieved to see that happening, since she thought you looked more alive when you devoted your body and expressions to your stories.”

‘ _I’m no good anymore_ ,’ Slaine thought and crumbled once again when he realized how much of a better person he had been when he had been a human.

The Slaine Inaho and Asseylum appreciated was gone, and he feared how he would look like to the cursed princess once he returned to the ship to deal with this unpleasant situation. The boy he had been was dead and buried, and what was left was an aggressive cursed count who happened to break down the moment he was confronted by his past. That, too, would fade once the curse consumed him entirely.

“Now, however – after realizing these feelings are my own – I have come to feel for another Slaine,” the other suddenly whispered, but – just as hope began to bloom in the cursed blond – a noise surprised them both; running steps, much quicker than a human’s, came toward them.

The moment Slaine was about to look up at whoever this intruder was, Inaho dashed up from the snow in time to deflect an attack aimed at the cursed blond. Because Slaine’s mind was still slowed by the tainted blood, he had no time to react himself and a strange whirlwind caressed his hair from the violent movements of two cursed creatures.

The movements died down within the blink of an eye.

“What the hell are you doing?!” a female voice yelled angrily, and Slaine turned to look behind him at Inaho and this unknown vampire.

He recognized her immediately.

†††

“Why are you protecting him and holding him, telling him this bullcrap about love and feelings?!” the red-haired girl continued with fury burning in her eyes while looking at the brunet, who stood between Slaine and her.

“Our mission has changed,” Inaho said, guarding her closely with his gaze to make sure she would not attack the cursed blond behind him.

“Fuck our mission! Why are you betraying your own?!” she growled and pointed at Slaine, hesitating to attack the brown-haired opponent who figured she knew she would lose to him if she tried to fight.

Inaho studied her to understand how she was so quickly back on her feet after being shot in the head and consumed tainted blood, and saw that blood stained her lips and chin as well as her uniform and gloves. Had she attacked one of the human prisoners in the city before following Slaine’s and Inaho’s footsteps into the forest?

“I’m not,” the brown-haired boy said with a slight hint of urgency in his voice, trying to as quickly as possible calm this situation down. “Things are not what they seem.”

“They never were, were they?!” the cursed girl answered while glaring at him. “Are you in love with him? That monster right there?”

“You need to listen to me,” Inaho said and seemed to relax somewhat, determining she was not a threat he had to guard. “He’s not who we thought he is. He has been trying to turn this war to our favor.”

“God damn it, Inaho! He shot nuclear warheads at us!” Rayet yelled, her eyes tearing up from suffocating anger. “He’s not doing anything for us! How can you stand there and protect someone like him? We need to kill him!”

“That won’t lead anywhere,” Inaho tried to explain, hoping she would listen to him. “If he dies, this war will turn chaotic. There are at least four more cursed nobles attacking China right now, and they are doing it under his command. If Slaine dies now, they will become unpredictable.”

The cursed girl would not have it; she released an audible huff of frustration and looked at the cursed blond behind Inaho with such anger it nearly threatened to set the atmosphere on fire.

She took a step forward and the brunet tensed his muscles to prepare for a fight.

“Have you lost your mind? You’re blinded by some sweet words he said? Whatever he has said, he’s lying to you!” she said, obviously trying to talk some sense into the delusional boy she thought Inaho were.

“I’m not!” The downhearted shout made both Inaho and Rayet jump from surprise. “I’m not,” Slaine’s voice continued, making him sound like a child trying to protect a new-developed pride.

“Bullshit!” Rayet growled and stormed toward the blond, but Inaho caught her and held her back. She tried to struggle herself free, getting angrier and angrier by the moment. “Don’t think you can feed me your lies, demon!”

“Rayet, don’t-“ the brunet began, but suddenly had to pin her arms behind her back when she tried to attack Inaho in order to get free. He squeezed his arms around her in the process, holding her in a safe grip from which she would not be able to struggle herself free. “Calm down. I understand you despise the cursed creatures after what happened to your father, but I won’t allow you to kill him.”

“You piece of shit,” she cursed from behind gritted teeth, glaring at the brunet before spitting him in the face. “You have betrayed us!”

What could he say to calm her down?, he wondered while he rearranged his grip around her wrists to free a hand and wipe away the spit from his cheek. Inaho had been so sure about his mission to capture the cursed silver-crowned prince that he was completely thrown off track at the moment now that things had become different to what he had thought earlier. To rethink something that had been as determined as this mission was difficult when needing to do so quickly.

Rayet froze and stared at something behind the brunet and Inaho heard a weak shuffling noise, similar to someone dragging their feet through snow. The creaking of compressed snow got closer, and, soon, a hand landed on Inaho’s shoulder and a body took support from him.

“I’m not sure what you are referring to … when you say he has betrayed you,” Slaine’s voice said weakly. “And that quarrel I shall leave to you to handle. However…” He made a short pause to collect strength, and continued: “I am not lying when I say it’s too soon for you to kill me.”

Rayet nearly paled at seeing the cursed count so close to her, and Inaho could feel her tremble. She feared the silver-crowned prince.

“Rayet,” the brunet said, and Rayet’s terrified stare shifted to his face. “Seylum has woken up. Mazuurek did it.”

“Mazuurek?!” Slaine asked and looked at the brunet with shock. “Did you … send him?”

“We did,” Inaho said and nodded toward Rayet to include her. “We helped him escape so he could find the princess and wake her up.”

A confused chuckle escaped Slaine’s lips, and the cursed count backed away from Inaho and the cursed girl, only to stumble and fall on his behind in the snow. He stared at them both, tears still flowing down his cheeks as he was about to break apart again.

“So a cursed count … knows about her…” he said, and his confused smile faded entirely.

“Call whoever it was who told you about her waking up,” Inaho said and looked at the cursed blond who seemed too lost to know what he should do. “Tell them to isolate Mazuurek and Seylum into their respective cabins, and don’t let anyone know about them. If Mazuurek manages to tell anyone about Seylum, things will break apart entirely.”

“What are you-?!” Rayet began to protest, but Inaho covered her mouth with his free hand to silence her.

“Hurry,” he urged the cursed blond, who nodded – still looking shocked – and raised a hand to his throat microphone.

“Eddelrittuo,” he said quietly. She seemed to answer him immediately, who had probably waited for his answer next to the radio. “Drug them both with tainted blood.”

Eddelrittuo seemed to argue with him, since Slaine's expression turned furious. It was an expression Inaho had never seen on the cursed blond before; an expression that did not suit him at all. It was the expression of someone so frightened they took on an aggressive defense mechanism to make others fear them to frighten them into obedience.

“DO AS I SAY!” Slaine finally yelled furiously. Rayet stiffened in the brunet’s arms, and even Inaho felt a shiver run down his spine from the angry tone in the other’s voice. “If things go out of hand, nothing will save this world! Drug them both and lock them up!”

Inaho was grateful Slaine had conveniently chosen those words, because they were the exact words Rayet needed to hear to make her believe what Inaho had said about Slaine was true. If she heard Slaine give such an clarifying order to someone working for him, Rayet could not doubt him or Inaho.

“Rayet,” Inaho tried again, looking at the cursed girl staring at Slaine. She turned to look at him slowly as if she was shaken from what she had heard the cursed blond say. “He’s not lying,” the brunet said and slowly released her. She stood still and obedient, staring at him with disbelief. “All of this is for Seylum’s dream of peace. The way he has done things might be questionable, but it’s too late to interrupt him now; things have gone too far and we have to accept that.”

“B-but…” the cursed girl tried to say, but her voice was drowned out by shock.

“We have to trust him. He won’t take over the world, nor will he destroy it. We humans have to bear some pain for a while for this to work,” the brunet continued, looking at her sternly. “We need to let him return safely to take control of the situation we caused by releasing Mazuurek.”

“I never thought you would come up with a crazy plan like that,” Slaine said defeated where he sat in the snow. “I made a mistake when I told you about her back in Malaysia…”

“W-what … have you two been doing all this time?” Rayet asked and shifted her gaze back and forth between the young men. “Do you really love him?” she asked the brunet, who turned to look at her.

Inaho figured she had heard enough about what he and Slaine had said earlier to allow her to see through whatever lie he tried to tell her.

“I do,” he answered curtly and stared at her.

Rayet shook her head slowly.

“And?” she asked and frowned with concern. “What will you do with him once this is over? Now I understand why you don’t want UN to have him, and I also understand you’re completely insane.”

“I won’t deny that,” the brunet answered honestly, still staring at her to convey his sincerity. “But that is of no concern now; we have more important things to tend to, like how we’ll get him back to where Seylum is.”

“You need to kill me once the time is right,” Slaine said quietly, pushing his body up from the snow again and staggered. “I won’t fight either of you once that time comes,” he continued and looked up at them both. “I don’t mind … whoever gets to me first.”

“No,” Inaho said and walked up to the cursed blond to take a hold of his shoulders to keep him steadily on his weak legs. “You don’t have to die.”

“Inaho!” Rayet exclaimed to scold him, and Slaine raised a tired hand in an attempt to slap the brunet, who took a hold of his wrist long before he was hit.

“Wake up,” Slaine gasped from weakness and looked at Inaho with a suddenly piercing glare. “I don’t love you, Kaizuka Inaho, and I will never love you. You’re just a pawn, like everyone else, and mean nothing to me.”

“Stop lying,” Inaho said as his heart squeezed tightly in his chest from those painful words. “You melt each time I touch you,” he continued and raised his hands to Slaine’s cheeks, making the cursed blond instantly shiver from the comforting human warmth he constantly longed for – just like Inaho remembered him doing every single time they had met.

‘ _You’re lying_.’

“Stop…” the silver-crowned prince sighed while closing his eyes and furrowing his brows.

“And you told me in Vladivostok my smile excites you,” the brunet continued.

“It doesn’t mean a thing to me,” Slaine answered, slowly pushing the brunet to once again lose his composure.

‘ _You’re lying, right?_ ’

“Then what about each time I hold you? You willingly give in to my touch,” Inaho reminded him.

“I told you: You mean nothing to me,” Slaine said and tried to push the brunet away, but Inaho simply tightened his grip, preventing the silver-crowned prince from escaping his embrace.

‘ _No! You’re lying!_ ’

“Then why did you choose me to kill you?” the brunet asked and felt the same kind of defense mechanism wake up in him that Slaine had used moments earlier when commanding Eddelrittuo over the radio.

“Because it was convenient; you’re strong enough to be able to take me on,” Slaine said angrily, pushing Inaho some more with cruel words. “It doesn’t matter who kills me, nor does it matter who touches me as long as they are warm like a human being! I would give in to anyone who is willing to touch me with warmth, so let me go and forget the love you claim to feel for me. It’s just lunacy.”

Anyone, he had said. Slaine was willing to let anyone touch him? That could not be true.

The curse made his teeth tingle once again, and his nails itched and begged him to bury them into the blond – and he did. How many had touched Slaine the way only Inaho was allowed to touch him? The brunet understood the cursed blond had seduced the man Inaho was jealous of – an act that resembled a crime to his delusional mind. If he let Slaine go back to Vers, he feared the blond would seek out this man again and let him take him.

“Ah…! Let go,” Slaine gasped as Inaho’s grip began to tighten hard enough it hurt.

‘ _He must be lying to make me hate him_ ,’ the brunet thought and gritted his teeth. ‘ _He showed such tendencies earlier when he explained how he would take the responsibility of those who served him and cared for him; he’s doing the same thing to me_.’

“You’re lying,” Inaho said, desperately denying the blond’s rejection. “You love me, but you want to selfishly protect me by saying such harsh things.”

Slaine sighed.

“Give it a rest,” his beloved groaned while trying to pull himself free, but the jealousy clung to him mercilessly through the brunet’s fingers gripping his shoulders. “You mean nothing to me!”

Inaho could not accept it. It was too painful. This bond he had with the silver-crowned prince was unbreakable, and it jumbled his mind into a mess hearing the blond deny his love so plainly. It was too late for the blond to reject him; Inaho had already decided the other belonged to him.

The way Slaine struggled in his arms was emotionally painful as well, making the half-vampire want to force him into obedience. It was as though his mind was wiped clean of everything else but the hurt and jealousy that filled him to the brim, and he shook his beloved violently, for the first time in his life yelling from desperate anger:

“I mean everything to you!”

†††

“Aagh! Stop!” Slaine cried and stared at the deranged brunet with confusion and fear.

The other’s behavior shocked him; he had never seen the brunet act like this. Each time they had met thus far, Inaho had been the calm and collected one, while Slaine had been feisty and pathetic. Slaine had to admit he knew little about the brunet, but he was certain this was not the way Inaho would have reacted had he been purely human.

“I thought I was clear with how much you mean to me. I won’t betray you!” the lovesick half-vampire said, throwing the cursed blond back onto the ground and instantly pinned him down like a carnivore; quick to prevent the prey from escaping.

Unable to fight back, Slaine released a whimper instead that begged the brunet to stop. Again, the other was assaulting him like a madman, claiming he loved the cursed blond more than anyone else. Slaine turned his face away, ready to accept Inaho’s anger and jealousy, but closed his eyes tightly to block out the vision of the livid brunet. He wanted to see nothing of the other’s furious expression; the vampire-like shine in Inaho’s eyes and Slaine’s inability to fight back made him feel the nostalgic helplessness from his time as a blood sacrifice.

‘ _Enough!_ ’ he thought and trembled. ‘ _I’ve had enough! Give me a moment to rest!_ ’

“Why do you keep rejecting me?” Inaho said – hovering at an arm’s length from Slaine’s face – with hurt dripping from his voice. “Why did you do this to me if you won’t accept me?”

Slaine had no idea what the other was talking about. What had he done to make him like this? The cursed blond carried no fault in this. Unlike with Lemrina and Harklight, Inaho had been the one who had spiraled out of control on his own without Slaine intentionally ensnaring him emotionally.

“I haven’t done anything to you to … make you love me!” the cursed blond answered with tears wetting his eyelashes. “You did it all on your own! The Slaine you love is not real. H-he only exists in Asseylum’s mind; y-you love the Slaine she remembers!”

This confusion was shaking him up further; he was unsure of how much more he could take of this madness. Again, he had no one to cling to – not even the assaulter whose embrace had been so warm and comfortable moments earlier.

“What about the love we made in Vladivostok?” Inaho blurted out and took a hold of Slaine’s jaw to force him to face him.

Slaine opened his eyes, terrified of seeing the one trying to love him. What on earth did Inaho think had happened in the cursed city? What Slaine had done to him back then had eventually become mutual, but there had not been any love involved. The cursed blond had been pulled in by the smile that had haunted him – that still did – and he had given in to the attraction and lust it had awakened.

‘ _But that wasn’t love!_ ’ he thought and gritted his teeth for a short moment to gather his courage. ‘ _It can’t be, since I love only Asseylum_.’

To his surprise, that thought resonated incorrectly, and he was slightly taken aback by it. The same thing had happened a couple of days ago when he had been thinking about Asseylum in the early stages of the war.

“It was rape… It wasn’t love,” the cursed blond gasped from behind his teeth; Inaho’s grip around his jaw was too strong for him to speak properly.

A frightened and human desperation hinted for a brief moment in the brunet’s furious expression as if he was terrified of letting Slaine correct the confusion raging in his head. A sharp breath was heard from the brunet, and Slaine briefly lifted from the ground when the assaulter pulled him up, and was ruthlessly slammed against the ground.

“Ugh!”

Instantly after, Inaho finally burst out yelling:

“STOP LYING!”

The curse burned hotly in the half-vampire; Slaine could tell from the way he was being stared at. It looked like Inaho would burn into ash any moment if his emotions continued clashing inside him like this; the human part of him truly loved him, and the cursed part of him probably wanted to own him. That could explain the jealousy and fear, as well as the constant denial of accepting things for what they were.

Since Inaho had been cursed and become a hybrid, it was impossible to determine what was happening to him and would happen in the future, but it was obvious it was changing him – making him into a jealous beast that could not be reasoned with when his both halves collided and tried to co-exist. The blond realized the sole thing that could save the other from burning in the curse’s flames was to hear Slaine say he did not mean what he said, and his way of abusing him was a desperate try to shake those words out of him.

‘ _What do I do?_ ’ Slaine frantically thought and felt Inaho’s grip on his jaw tighten to the point his bones began to ache. A suffocated scream erupted from his throat and his free hand took hold of Inaho’s wrist, trying to pull it away. ‘ _Stop!_ ’

To his relief, a strong hand took a hold of the collar of Inaho’s uniform and threw him away from the cursed count. Slaine pushed his weak body up to see Inaho roll over the snowy ground before he came to a stop after bumping into a tree, and, when the cursed blond looked up to the one who had saved him, he saw a furious Rayet glare at the brunet.

“You have completely lost your mind!” she yelled to the other. “What is going on with you? You’re acting like a cursed creature who’s about to be separated from a favored blood sacrifice! Get a grip of yourself!”

“R-Rayet,” the cursed blond gasped, surprised of her stepping in between them.

The cursed girl threw a quick glance at him to acknowledge him, and then turned to look at Inaho again.

“Now we’re even, asshole,” she told the blond quietly from the corner of her mouth, and made herself ready for a fight with the brunet who slowly got up from the ground, snow falling around him from his uniform. “Did that clear your mind, or did it make you lose it some more?” she asked him, but Inaho raised a hand to his head and stood silent for a while, not looking at the other two.

Slaine stared at him, wondering what he would do next. What was happening inside the brunet’s head now that the curse had disturbed his human nature? Had the same thing happened to Slaine? Perhaps. Now that the change played out so clearly before him in someone else, he could actually see what Asseylum had warned him about years ago. If this had happened to him – which he began to believe more and more – Slaine could finally sympathize with Lemrina and Eddelrittuo who had seen this monstrous change in him.

‘ _That’s why they have been so difficult; they didn’t want me to change_ ,’ he thought. ‘ _The curse makes us fear being left alone, more than when we were humans, since we instinctively know we have an eternity ahead of us._ ’ He watched the brunet shake his head and sigh. ‘ _And he wants to include me in his eternity – if he has one…_ ’

“Inaho…” the blond said with a frown, but the brunet gave no reaction. Despite that, Slaine continued in an attempt to communicate with him: “I can’t be confined in your arms. Once the time comes, you have to kill me.” Rayet tried to stop him by stepping in front of him to cut him off from his path, but she was afraid to touch him. Slaine simply walked past her. “If you need to trap me for a little while, then I will let you have your way. After that, you have to face the duty I have given you; I can’t stay alive.”

Inaho did not answer, nor did he back away from him. He allowed the cursed blond to walk up to him and, slowly, Slaine put his hands on his shoulders. An empty gaze met his the moment the brunet looked up.

“Don’t touch him!” Rayet warned him, but Slaine ignored her.

“The curse is messing up your priorities and emotions, making you prioritize your feelings rather than your duties,” he told the other. “We cursed creatures are propelled by satisfying our emotions and needs, and silences our empathy – making us into selfish monsters. I don’t doubt you when you say you have fallen for me, since the curse in you makes it all too clear, but you still have your humanity; you have to keep fighting the curse. Once I’m out of your way, I hope you will be able to control it.”

Inaho lowered his gaze and stared into empty space. He had probably understood what Slaine meant, since he did not seem to want to hear it. Instead, he raised his hands to take a weak hold of Slaine’s uniform, pulling the cursed blond close, and rested his head against Slaine’s shoulder – begging him to not make him honor his request of killing him.

‘ _What do I do?_ ’ Slaine wondered troubled.

His knees shook beneath him, but he had begun to feel slightly stronger now than moments earlier. Finally, he was getting his strength back, and he took it as a sign for him to leave and take control of the impossible situation back on Tharsis.

“I have to go,” the cursed blond then whispered into Inaho’s ear. “I don’t love you. You hear me?” Inaho did not ease his hold, and Slaine frowned. He began to feel stressed out; he needed to return to Tharsis as soon as possible. Every second that passed was a waste of time, and he had wasted enough time in this forest. “Let go.”

Instead, Inaho’s arms coiled around his waist and held him tightly, refusing to let go.

†††

‘ _If I let you go, the next time I see you will be when you die_ ,’ the brunet thought and gritted his teeth hard enough to nearly shatter them. ‘ _How can I accept something like that?_ ’

When his beloved tried to pull his arms off him, Inaho resisted him for a little while before giving up. He felt so lonely the moment the other took a step back from him that his chest tightened unbearably and his body began to feel like a stranger’s. This tremendous hurt was new to him.

‘ _Don’t go_ …’

“Look after him,” he heard the other half of his heart say to the cursed girl, before it turned to him again, saying: “My existence won’t torment you for much longer, Inaho. Care for your friends and family; I’m the enemy.”

When Slaine’s steps began to fade away, Inaho’s heart shattered. It made him freeze to the spot, making him into a statue as he watched his beloved walk away toward the city down the hill. The brunet could not run after him nor call for him; he was in such emotional pain it petrified him. This emotional agony was beyond anything he had felt in his past. The cursed blond was still weak, but Inaho thought he walked slightly taller now than before, but, soon, his silhouette disappeared and Inaho felt like collapsing the same way Slaine had collapsed against him earlier before Rayet had arrived. He thought his heartstrings would begin to snap one by one when he least expected it; he knew the next time he and his beloved met Slaine’s life would be in danger.

‘ _I can’t…_ ’ It felt as if he would kill a part of him once that moment came.

“We should leave,” Rayet said and looked at the city down below. “The enemy will start spreading out in the area soon enough once they have gathered all the human captives.” When Inaho did not move, she sighed heavily and took a hold of him, pulling him along deeper into the woods. “Get a grip of yourself. If you can’t kill him, I will,” she said, but Inaho did not answer.

Instead, he took a sharp and deep breath and held it for a while. His steps became heavier and heavier when he felt the distance between him and his beloved heartlessly increase. Then, the loneliness engulfed him – making him realize it was real and true while hearing Slaine’s rejecting words play in his head – and his knees buckled beneath him. Rayet stopped immediately and turned to look at him, saying:

“Get the hell up! You have done enough dama-!”

She went silent when Inaho raised his hands to his face from confusion. Something warm trickled down his cheeks and the breath he had held escaped him. His shoulders trembled and his heart felt like it was wrenched. He tried to take a deep breath to clear this cramped feeling inside his chest, but it turned into jagged gasps as the tightness refused to cooperate with him.

“Inaho?” Rayet asked quietly and stared at him, but Inaho could not answer. Instead, a whimper escaped him – and he realized he was crying for the first time ever since he had been an orphan baby boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the novel about Inaho's and Yuki's canon background story, it is said Inaho has only cried once, and that was when he was a baby boy and Yuki got the news their parents had died in Heaven's Fall. I decided it was time he did it for the second time in this fic.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed. Only three anime episodes left to cover before I briefly tread on non-canon ground! 8D


	39. Out of the Past – Encounter and Farewell 1

‘ _What is it I have to do?_ ’

The aircraft landed onto the flight deck after he had somehow managed to fly back to Tharsis. He was grateful for the aircraft’s automated system, which required barely any skill from the pilot when taking off, flying and landing. This had helped him to fly despite feeling affected by Inaho’s tainted blood and taken him safely back to his ship so he could hurry and take control of the situation that seemed to pull a snare tighter around his throat. He felt suffocated now that he knew he had to act quickly.

‘ _I have to speak to Eddelrittuo, and then see the … princess…_ ’

The aircraft was guided to its location on the deck by a flight deck crewmember and chained down.

‘ _After that_ ,’ he continued thinking while removing the helmet and unstrapped the belts holding him to the seat. ‘ _I have to investigate what Lemrina knows – if she knows anything at all about what has happened. I have to do that carefully_.’ He opened the canopy and the fresh winter air ruffled his hair in the early morning, about an hour before the sun would begin to rise over the horizon. ‘ _And then I have to interrogate Mazuurek…_ ’

“My lord!”

Eddelrittuo’s child-like voice reached him the moment he got out of the aircraft. With strength gathered from sheer will-power, Slaine pushed his body to obey him to look strong in front of his soldiers and sailors despite feeling fatigued.

A bad taste spread in his mouth the moment the soles of his boots touched the flight deck; it felt different to be back on Tharsis now that he knew the cursed princess had woken up and was locked up inside her cabin, just a few decks below his feet. Nothing would be the same from now on, but he had to keep pretending that nothing was wrong.

Slaine met the handmaiden’s expression. She looked relieved as well as anxious. Perhaps she thought of it as bittersweet to see the cursed count return to the ship and take on the task of handling a dead cursed woman’s return to the living. Eddelrittuo was certainly aware of how difficult this situation was, and she probably also believed she carried some responsibility in what had happened. Slaine wondered briefly if she was afraid of him; he had changed a lot since being cursed after all. He knew he was not the same person he had been before being turned, and it had become all too clear after seeing Inaho change before his eyes.

“Follow me, Eddelrittuo,” Slaine said and did his utmost to sound like his usual self, and began walking down the deck. The handmaiden hurried after him without a word, and they disappeared down the stairs and into Slaine’s office. The cursed blond turned to her the moment he closed the door behind them, and then sighed heavily and hung his head. He hesitated for a short while, afraid to learn what the handmaiden had to say, but finally forced himself to say quietly: “How … is she?”

The small cursed girl entwined her hands together in front of her like in a desperate prayer, failing to hold her tears back. A weak whimper escaped her trembling lips, and she said:

“She is very weak, my lord. She can speak, but is still too weak to move about; there was no need to drug her.” She made a pause to collect her trembling voice and continued: “Forgive me, Count Troyard. … Slaine… I failed to hold Count Mazuurek away from her. He cornered me and said all these things about her, that he knew she was alive and such. I…” She took a deep breath, clearly afraid of Slaine’s judgement. ”I could not stop him. I tried, but I- He is locked up after consuming tainted blood, but I-“

She was terrified of Slaine’s possible anger for having failed to protect the sleeping cursed princess from an enemy. Was this proof of how much the curse had changed Slaine during just a couple of months? To keep her loyal, Slaine could not blame her for anything of what had happened. If he became angry at her, she would become unpredictable. The situation required all the faith and control Slaine could gather, and, to do that, he had to play all those around him like pawns for the last time.

‘ _Even now, I can’t be honest with anyone_ ,’ he thought and felt lonelier for each moment that passed.

“I’m not angry,” the cursed blond said quietly, dropping all formalities, and looked up at her with a weak smile. “It’s not your fault, Eddelrittuo. He is a cursed count after all.”

The little handmaiden’s anxious expression deepened and tears rolled down her cheeks. Her fingers paled more than they already were as she clutched her hands strongly, and a sob escaped her. She looked like a lost child who had been found by a stranger; terrified and relieved at the same time.

“Slaine…!” she cried and unfolded her hands to hide her tearstained face. Her small shoulders shook. “I am so happy she is awake, but I also know this is really bad. I feel so conflicted.”

Slaine was too tired from everything that had happened earlier in Chunhuazhen to feel any form of pity, but he knew he had to keep the handmaiden on his side for a little while longer – just a little while longer – since he had to speed up the pace of his work. She would not need to suffer for much longer now. No one would. Not even Slaine.

‘ _Just bear it. It’ll all be over soon_ ,’ he told himself and walked up to her, knelt down before her and took a hold of her slender wrists to pull her hands down from her face, and then gave her a gentle smile and said:

“Be happy, Eddelrittuo. Leave everything else that’s bad to me. Forgive me for yelling at you earlier and for ordering you to do something horrible. I panicked.”

Even though he was grateful for everything she had done, he could not feel honest about the words he spoke. To him, the words he said were empty words to keep her loyal, and he could not bother to feel remorseful about masterfully lying to her. He did indeed feel as though he had been betrayed by her in a sense for not doing everything she could to stop Mazuurek, but, rationally, he knew she had probably been helpless due to the generation of her curse and her position in the hierarchy. Count Mazuurek had probably pushed through her guard, if what she told him about trying to stop him was true.

“Slaine…” she whispered and stared at him surprised while her body slowly stopped trembling.

“I trust you,” the cursed blond continued while he himself felt like trembling enough to fall apart after everything he had gone through and would go through within a couple of oncoming days. Despite all that, he bravely kept his composure: “Be with her. Keep her company and care for her, since I know that is what you want to do. Leave everything else – this war, Lemrina and Mazuurek – to me. You have done enough. Thank you for working so hard all this time.”

Eddelrittuo’s saddened face became warped with overwhelming relief, and she threw her tiny arms around Slaine’s neck and hugged him tightly, crying against the crook of his neck like a child. The cursed blond was taken aback by her sudden closeness and went stiff. Someone else’s touch felt initially alarming before he caught up with the situation and its context. It felt similar to how he had felt earlier in the forest when Inaho had gone out of control the first time.

Then, as she had cried against his shoulder for a while, he raised his hands around her tiny frame and held it gently out of obligation rather than sympathy.

‘ _Did he feel like this as well, that he had to hold me out of pity?_ ’ Slaine thought and felt the lingering sensation of Inaho’s arms around him from before when the cursed blond had lost his self-control. ‘ _Or did he really want to hold me because he cared?_ ’

What had happened in the forest outside Chunhuazhen was still a messy memory that was yet to settle properly into his mind. It was confusing and awkward, like Slaine had not understood what had really happened back there. Inaho had been aggressive out of jealousy – so jealous he had not been considerate toward the cursed blond at all. Slaine had to admit he probably deserved it after everything he had said and done to the other, but that had been a horribly bad time to subject him to such stressors, since he still had to be strong enough to finish his plan.

‘ _It doesn’t matter now_ ,’ he thought and felt the tiny body in his arms, trying to find comfort from it for just a little while. ‘ _I don’t need to process anything since these memories won’t exist in a couple of days._ ’

It felt strange to know he would probably die within a couple of days after setting his plan into motion much sooner than intended. Soon, nothing would matter at all, and this gave him slight comfort; he knew what he was forced to do would scar him for life if he survived, and, since he would not survive, he did not need to worry about the scarring. Then again, dying was still frightening because it would not be under his control; someone else would kill him, and he dreaded how it all would play out. Death itself paled in comparison to the unknown way he would die.

‘ _There are no dark rooms, are there?_ ’ he thought. ‘ _It’s all empty; there’s nothing on the other side, right?_ ’

“T-that Kaizuka…” Eddelrittuo suddenly said and pulled away to look at him with her tear-stricken face. Had she been human, her eyes would have been puffy and her nose would have been crimson, but, because she was a cursed creature, she was perfectly pale.

Slaine knew what she was hinting at, and he nodded and said:

“Yes, I met him in Chunhuazhen. We fought and argued, but I managed to get away.” The handmaiden had probably felt Inaho’s scent on the cursed count. “He was the one who sent Count Mazuurek to wake up Her Highness.”

“Kaizuka did…?” she asked and frowned heavily.

Slaine knew he had to stop cowering from stress and gather his last remaining strength to finish what he had started, and, with that thought in mind, he got up from the floor and looked at the handmaiden as the cursed count he was.

“I free you from your duties as Queen Lemrina’s handmaiden. Care for the princess and keep her company.” He walked over to the door. “Show me to her,” he then said, and the cursed girl hurried to the door and opened it for him.

When the cursed blond followed the handmaiden toward the room where the newly-awakened cursed princess lay, he began to feel frightened to see her alive for the first time in two years. His hands tingled from anxiety and his legs felt weaker the closer to the cabin they came. To find some kind of support, he took a deep breath and placed his hand on Eddelrittuo’s tiny shoulder while gritting his teeth and trying to be brave. Asseylum being alive again was just as surreal as when she had died two years ago, and the vision of her being awake frightened him. He had waited for this for so long, desperately protected her and kept her alive by selling his soul to Saazbaum and Lemrina and been their pawn for nearly two years. After Saazbaum’s death, he had begun to move his own pawns, slowly cornering himself intendedly to fulfill Asseylum’s wish.

‘ _How can I take it in that she’s awake?_ ’ he thought and stopped breathing until they stopped in front of the door. ‘ _I’ve been waiting for so long that I don’t remember her properly anymore_.’

Slaine gripped Eddelrittuo’s shoulder just slightly harder. The cursed girl looked up at him with pitying eyes – knowing how difficult this was for him – and placed her hand over his to give it a gentle squeeze. Then, Slaine sighed heavily from determination and took a hold of the door handle, hesitated again to take another deep breath and sigh with his chest growing tight. Then, he pressed his lips together and carefully opened the door.

The atmosphere felt nostalgic the moment he took his first step inside the room. Eddelrittuo closed the door behind them and stayed in the background, watching Slaine and the cursed princess reunite again. Gentleness drifted in the air – giving the room a profound feeling of a home – and his gaze fell onto the bed. There, with her soft and golden hair lying like a halo around her, Asseylum lay awake and slowly turned her face to look at him.

Time stood still. Everything faded the moment the emerald green eyes met his and arrested him. Even the colors in the room got slowly washed out and all the sounds he was used to hearing faded as well. Slaine’s knees shook beneath him from the arresting glance. He could not blink. He could not tear his eyes away from her nor breathe. She was beautiful even with her short hair and exhausted expression, and the kindness he remembered so well still rested on her lips as if it had never disappeared – like on a being who was eternally gentle.

A trembling hand rose up to his chest as his ribcage felt like imploding from this weighty moment. He gripped his uniform – that was still wet from melted snow – tightly as he was at a loss of what else to do when being locked in her gaze. The title of a count and the nature of the curse faded entirely, and he was stripped bare of all the roles he usually carried. A weak whimper escaped his lips as he ceased to be a leader, a vampire, a human, a young man, a boy, a child… All that was left was his subjective being, which was completely exposed for the cursed princess watching him.

“Asseylum…” he whispered shivering. “My … princess…”

‘ _Do you recognize me?_ ’ he wondered with hope and dared to take a step forward, but, as he allowed himself to take one step closer to her, his body lost control of the great impulse to run up to her. He closed the distance between him and her as quickly as he possibly could and fell on his knees beside her bed. His ears were whirring from a strange excitement and he sucked in a sharp breath to speak.

“Your Highness,” he said with a weak voice, but the moment her eyes squinted slightly to begin smiling, tears sprung to his eyes from the nostalgia, and his voice was pushed out from between his lips: “It is me! Do you remember me? I’m Slaine!” She stared at him weakly but had no chance to speak as there was no end to his sudden desperation to be recognized by her: “I’m Slaine! Slaine Troyard! Please, do you remember me?!” He sobbed and stared at her without blinking, and his voice crackled and suffocated as his body was filled with emotions once again: “I am … Slaine Troyard…” His shoulders and body slumped, making him lower his head and gaze to cry as Inaho’s words from earlier inspired him to stimulate the cursed princess’s memory: “Do you remember…? I’m your little storyteller; your one-man play…”

‘ _Please remember me!_ ’

A hand touched his cheek after a short while and his sobs stopped along with his breaths. The hand was cold, like that of a cursed creature, but it caressed him so gently it fooled him to believe it was as warm as a human’s – just as he remembered it. He slowly raised his head at the feeling of the frail hand touching his cheek, and then a soft voice whispered:

“Slaine…”

The cursed blond turned his eyes up to look at her and saw her smile a heartwarming smile. It stole his breath away and filled him with celestial adoration. The woman who had taken care of him as a child was back. The source of his motivation had returned to his side and the world outside the room stopped feeling frightening for a little while. Again, he felt like he could do anything for her to repay her kindness for saving his life so many times in his past.

“Y-your Highness…” he mumbled shocked, and he felt like breaking apart from childish joy at hearing her soft voice call his name like a spring bird chirping happily to announce summer was on its way:

“Slaine… Slaine… Slaine…”

The crying blond suffocated his voice that wanted to erupt from his throat in the form of a scream, and he sucked in a breath instead and smiled joyfully, taking her frail hand into his and held it gently against his tearstained cheek, dreading to break it.

“Your Highness…” he sobbed while trembling. His smile widened; making him feel like the naïve and happy child he had been many years ago before he had been recruited by Cruhteo to work for him as a blood sacrifice. “I have been waiting for so long to hear you say my name once again…”

He was completely swept away by the nostalgic emotions she awoke that he collapsed against the bed, crying into the mattress next to her while slowly strengthening his grip around her hand to make sure she was actually real and not a dream. Eddelrittuo closed the distance between them and put a small hand on his shoulder and knelt to lean against him like she was praying to a divine entity together with him, crying out of happiness alongside him.

“She is really awake,” she whispered to him. “I am so happy…”

†††

“Get a grip of yourself!” she yelled and slapped him over his cheek. Inaho fell down into the snow, tired from the aftermath of tremendous feelings that had overwhelmed him. It felt as if he had had some kind of emotional discharge back with Slaine that had left him helplessly exhausted. “What the hell is wrong with you? Stop crying!” she continued and kicked some snow at him. “Get up! Get up from there and stop being pathetic, god damn it!”

With his tears still flowing despite several attempts to be strong and hold them back, he pushed his body up back onto his feet. No matter what he had done, the tears had not stopped and kept on coming as though they tried to catch up for all the years he had not grieved like this. Even now, after the initial grief had dissipated, his tears still rolled down his sore cheeks. They had begun to run out, but they still stung his sore skin; the cold had bitten him enough to make small cracks in his skin, and the salty tears stung them unpleasantly.

Rayet had dragged him deeper and deeper into the woods in Southwest direction, moving toward a Chinese base on the other side of the thick forest. Inaho had absentmindedly followed her without arguing. Now, however, she had lost her patience and could not stay silent anymore; she was panicking over his crumbled state.

“This is not the Inaho I know! The one you are now is not my partner!” she yelled loud enough her voice echoed in the silent forest. “How can you let him tear you down like this?! He’s a fucking monster! I don’t care what the hell he’s planning and why; he’s still a damn nightmare for the world!” When Inaho did not answer and stayed silent, she took a ruthless grip of his uniform and shook him hard that his neck creaked. “You can’t love him! Please, tell me you’re not truly in love with him!”

The brunet felt a sting in his heart and felt his body stiffen at her words.

‘ _Stop…_ ’

“I won’t allow you to love him, Inaho! You deserve better than him!”

The brunet stiffened further and the stinging in his heart grew hot.

‘ _Be silent…_ ’

“Why not choose someone like Inko?! She’s can’t tear her eyes from you the moment you two are in the same room! She constantly talks about you and worries for you, and she always speaks to you carefully! Why won’t you look at her instead of the tyrant who has caused us nothing but terror and grief?”

This time, her words angered the brunet. Why would he care about what Inko thought about him? Was he not supposed to choose someone who he loved? That was what everyone had told him, and that was what the fairy tales taught children. It would be unfair to choose someone simply because they loved him despite him not loving them back. That would be nothing but charity. So why did the fairy tales not apply to him as well; allowing him to choose a love and fight for it?

“Inko is far more suitable for you!” the cursed girl yelled and shook the brunet again.

This time, Inaho could not stay calm. He took a hold of her wrists and forcefully bent them away from him. Rayet released a pained gasp and her knees slowly buckled beneath her as she was forced into a position that would eased the pain in her wrists. Fury burned in the brunet and he stared at her with menacing feelings coiling around his heart and mind, telling him he was allowed to punish her for saying such horrible things.

“I-Inaho…!” the red-haired vampire gasped and tried to pull her hands away, but Inaho held them in an iron grip.

“I don’t love her,” he said with a whisper and stared at her without blinking, still with tears on his frozen cheeks.

Rayet’s expression turned from pained to frightened as she watched him into his cold eyes, and the brunet felt pleased. He was silently warning her from trying to convince him to choose Inko instead of his silver-crowned prince, and she seemed to slowly realize this the longer she stared into his condemning eyes.

“L-let go!” the cursed girl exclaimed and whimpered from pain as Inaho twisted her wrists. She finally fell on her knees.

“I love him,” Inaho said and leaned closer to her face, threatening her with his presence. “No matter what you or he say, these feelings won’t die. They have already finished developing, and I can’t ignore them.”

“Do you even know what y-you’re saying? AGH!” the red-haired cursed girl said and squeezed her eyes tightly shut due to pain. “He told you himself that he has to die! Y-you know he’s right! Hyahh!”

“No,” Inaho said and squeezed Rayet’s wrists hard enough they made a disgusting sound. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I won’t let you or anyone else kill him.”

“The curse is making you insane! You’re betraying us?!”

“If I must,” the brunet answered sternly and let go of her. She quickly pulled her aching wrists to her chest and massaged them carefully while staring at him with a terrified expression. “I won’t allow anyone to stop me. Not even him. I suggest you cooperate with me. Once I have achieved saving him, no one will have to worry about us.”

The brunet gave her one last stern glance and then, with the last tears still streaming down his hurting cheeks, he began walking toward the base located in Southwest, two more hours away by foot.

“You can’t be serious…!” he heard Rayet whimper from behind him, but he ignored her.

†††

“Queen Lemrina,” he said and stepped in through the door after knocking on it in the early morning.

A couple of hours had passed since he had left Asseylum’s side to gather his thoughts and courage to see the half-sister. It had been some long hours of contemplating on what he needed to do and why and when. On top of that, he had been battling his emotions that had gone out of control before he had managed to push them down and sealed them away. Just moments earlier, he had endured the feeling of having a pressure chamber in his chest until the critical phase had calmed down. He knew he would risk of blowing apart from suffocating raging emotions like this, but he figured he had no need to fight it for too long; it was simply a matter of gritting his teeth long enough.

“Welcome back,” the cursed girl said and looked at him with tired eyes. She lay in bed with a notebook in her lap, and the tip of a pen rested against the page she had been writing on. “You have come back quite early.”

“I have,” Slaine said and closed the door behind him while pretending like nothing had happened. He was sure to keep his attention on her to make out if she knew anything about the change in Asseylum’s state. “The invasion of China is proceeding without incident.”

“I see,” she answered tiredly. “I knew you could do it, Slaine.”

She was less of her usual self than Slaine had expected, but he continued on without visibly reacting to her exhaustion. In his mind, however, he was alarmed by the change in her, but he was unsure of how true his suspicions were. He was aware he was feeling paranoid. Every shadow he saw and every voice he heard was dangerous before he understood they were not. Was she cursed queen simply tired?

“Thank you, Your Highness. On a related note, perhaps you could say a few words to those cursed officers and soldiers who have distinguished themselves in battle until now?” he said with a pretended smile, but her expression did not change at all.

She kept watching him with exhaustion playing on her countenance, and her passiveness continued to alarm him. He began to feel like something was wrong, and he feared Lemrina knew something about the situation she should not.

“The Queen ‘me’ you mean?” she asked, and Slaine was taken aback by her comment.

‘ _Something’s off_ ,’ he thought and watched her carefully.

“Yes. If their queen were to honor their achievements, it would win over more cursed nobles on our side,” he said and took a step closer. “China has put up a good fight, but I wish to gather as many cursed nobles to help me as possible, since I believe it would serve as a sign for our citizen that even the nobles can unite under the same banner.”

‘ _And lure all of those who oppose Asseylum to known locations_ ,’ he thought. ‘ _And wipe them out…_ ’

“Your banner?” Lemrina asked without a change in her expression.

“Yes,” the cursed blond pushed on, watching her intently. “Who else’s banner should they unite under?”

Lemrina stayed silent for a while. Something was being twisted and turned in her mind, and Slaine hated it that he had no idea of what it was. He had his hunches, but he found it too unsafe to flat out ask her about it. If he did and she turned out to be unknowing of the situation with Asseylum, he feared she would begin wondering why he asked her about things she knew nothing about. Curiosity was dangerous, especially now in the last phase of his plan.

“Very well,” she finally said and sighed after battling something and losing. She seemed to relax at this, and changed her tired expression into a wondering one. “Incidentally, Slaine, how is my dear sister faring?” Slaine stiffened immediately. “There was some commotion earlier before you arrived, and Eddelrittuo’s absence has made me worry.”

‘ _Is she masking something in that question?_ ’ he wondered.

“She is perfectly fine,” he answered and watched her closely in case she would reveal some kind of reaction. Nothing changed on her curious looking face. “Eddelrittuo has been freed from her duties of serving the queen by her own request. This war is a trial for all of us,” the cursed blond continued. “I have called for Harklight to take over Eddelrittuo’s duties for now until we find a suitable handmaiden for you. I hope that is fine with you.”

“That is true, of course, and I thank you for your consideration. Harklight must be a busy man,” the cursed girl answered. She turned her gaze to the painting of the blue rose standing in a corner, next to which a bouquet of blue roses stood; the second bouquet Slaine had given her since their engagement. The painting was still unfinished. “Let us pray for a quick victory. Rest properly, Slaine. You must be exhausted from the battle,” she then said and gave him a weak smile. “As a queen, I am proud of you.”

Slaine answered her smile with a slightly brighter one and nodded, feeling relieved of her slowly returning back to normal. Perhaps she had simply been exhausted after all?

“Thank you. That is very kind of you,” he said and took a step back toward the door. “Excuse me for now. I have to return to my duties.”

“Will I see you later, Slaine?” the cursed queen asked and frowned, and the blond froze shortly before agreeing with her:

“Of course. I shall come to visit you this evening once I have finished my duties for the day,” he answered.

“I look forward to that,” she answered, brightening her smile some more.

‘ _I should keep her happy and keep an eye on her_ ,’ he thought as he left the cursed queen’s cabin.

†††

“For goodness sake!” his sister yelled with tears of joy washing over her cheeks as she ran toward him.

After Inaho and Rayet had managed to find their way to the Chinese base in the Southwest, they had been separated to be questioned about what had happened and how the city of Chunhuazhen looked like now. After the ordeal, Inaho had been ordered to rest and was lying on a bunk in the temporary sickbay tent. Rayet was kept somewhere else due to her being a cursed creature; the Chinese feared she would attack the wounded in case she would become hungry and feel the smell of blood.

“What the hell did you do that for, Nao?!” Yuki asked the moment she stopped next to him and threw herself over him to hold him. “When I heard you and Rayet disappeared and you weren’t in the other trucks, I became so worried I nearly fainted. Don’t you ever do something like that again!”

“Yuki…” Inaho said quietly. He was exhausted. “Let go; you’re heavy.”

“I don’t care how fat I am!” she cried and nuzzled his tousled hair. “I’m gonna bother you until I’m satisfied. That’s the least you can do for your poor sister who was worried sick about you!”

“I didn’t call you fat,” the brunet protested but did not push her away. “Let go.”

“Nu-uh!” his sister answered and squeezed him tighter. Irritation grew in him.

A strange feeling spread in him at feeling his sister’s arms around him. It felt like indifference; like he had been detached from her. If she would have done this a couple of days ago, he would have genuinely thought she was allowed to touch him until she had made sure he was real and all right. Now, however, he simply felt bothered by her and wished she would let go and leave him alone. He had no wish to allow her to hold him, since her arms felt nothing but strange – as though they were dirtying him with something and suffocating him. Only his silver-crowned prince was allowed to touch him; his touch was clean while everyone else’s touches felt sickening.

‘ _I have changed…_ ’ he realized and decided to bear his sister’s worried assault. The tiredness disabled him from arguing, so he decided to spare himself from the exhaustion it would bring. ‘ _How could I change this quickly? Is it the curse? Seylum said once the curse does something to the tainted, and Rayet has said the same thing. Today, Slaine said the curse made me aggressive_.’ He had to admit his thoughts had begun to change a long time ago, but they had changed so successively he had not noticed the change until now that it was so clearly pointed out to him.

Even if his primary feeling was of disgust of having his sister touch him, a secondary feeling of unease made itself real and it caused him to become frightened about the change. He had always known he was strange around people due to his personality disorder; he was distant to people and had little to no interest in getting to know others beyond the little circle of friends he had managed to gather around him. Life had been pleasant like that; predictable and comfortable. The moment the war had broken out, he had devoted his life of a soldier to protect those he loved and cared about while trying to bring back the predictable element to his life, but – now that he thought about it – that had changed.

‘ _I’m not interested in that anymore_ …’ he thought surprised. ‘ _When did it change?_ ’

Yuki and his friends still meant a lot to him despite the reasons of him fighting in the war had changed. It was something he could not deny. His silver-crowned prince, however, was in great danger and made the brunet care more about him than his friends and family. Slaine had lost his mind, and Inaho had lost his along with him. The brunet found it painful to think the cursed blond was waiting for him to kill him in the near future; his heart was squeezed tight in his chest.

‘ _He’s sacrificing himself to protect the world_ ,’ Inaho thought. ‘ _My sister and friends will be all right in the end. I just have to make sure they aren’t killed before Slaine is defeated_.’ Once Slaine fell and ceased to be dangerous, Yuki and the others had no more need of the half-cursed boy’s protection. ‘ _They will miss me, though…_ ’

That was as far as Inaho bothered to care for them. His focus had entirely shifted from his friends and family and a comfortable life to the silver-crowned prince, as though he had stayed passive toward other people throughout his whole life only to gather all of his personal interest to one single person. Never had he really been concerned about sharing that interest with multiple people, but, now that he had found the right one to focus it all on, he was engrossed in the need to give all of his attention to that person; to Slaine.

‘ _I don’t want to be without him_ ,’ the brunet thought and felt his sister pull her fingers through his dirty hair without feeling soothed by her caring gesture. He felt restless. ‘ _I can’t be without him._ ’

Inaho was convinced that Slaine truly did not want to die. The cursed blond simply thought he had no choice because he was in the center of the burning world’s attention and would soon be enveloped by its flames. The passionate being Slaine was supposed to be probably feared for the moment of his last death, and Inaho wanted to change the fate the cursed blond had decided for himself. If the brunet could get to him in time – before the world would turn its firepower toward the silver-crowned prince – the passionate Slaine Inaho loved would not need to die and Bat would disappear forever since there was no need for him anymore once the war was over.

‘ _I’ll protect Slaine in my arms_ ,’ he thought and felt drowsy. The fatigue was catching up to him, making him want to sleep for a little while. ‘ _There is no need for him to die once Bat as the key figure has been removed from this war, and he can go back to the gentle and compassionate Slaine he truly is._ ’

“Yuki,” he murmured quietly and let his eyes close. “I’m sleepy.”

“All right,” his sister whispered and released him. “I’ll sit here next to you until my guarding shift starts.”

“Do as you like,” the brunet answered and turned his back toward her, pulling the blanket tightly around him and let his exhausted body rest against the thin mattress of the bunk.

†††

“How have you been feeling for the past hours?” he asked and watched the beautiful cursed creature smile gently in the afternoon. The winter sun was about to set, but Slaine had managed to wrap up his work for the moment to take the opportunity to see the cursed princess again. HE could not help himself; after their first meeting in the morning, he had gotten an urge for more time with her, as though he had regressed to the boy he had been over two years ago.

“Mentally, I feel fine,” Asseylum answered after Eddelrittuo had helped her to sit up. “My body, however…” She took a deep breath. “It feels weak and as though my nerves are broken here and there; some parts of my body are numb or awkward to move.”

Slaine had just recently come back from interrogating Count Mazuurek. The drugged cursed count had said nothing of what he knew about Asseylum and Slaine, and neither did he tell what he had done while Slaine had been busy on the battlefield. The cursed blond had a terrible feeling he and Eddelrittuo and Harklight were not the only ones who knew about Asseylum being alive. He feared Mazuurek had managed to contact others about the matter, and he tried to tell himself he was simply paranoid now that too much was at stake. Despite that, he thought he had all the right to feel on edge like this.

Since the interrogation had given no results that would calm the cursed blond at all, he had decided to return to the cursed princess and speak to her while Harklight was taking care of Lemrina. The executive officer had become a manservant once again – willingly doing what Slaine ordered him to – and was now guarding the cursed queen who apparently was busy painting. This gave Slaine some calm that allowed him to visit the cursed princess to once again and get used to her presence, even if he would soon be separated from her again. He was helpless against the greedy need for getting more time with her.

“That is hardly surprising, Your Highness,” Slaine answered with a smile and felt relieved Asseylum was too weak to move about just yet. “The fact that your body was able to heal this well was a miracle.” He lowered his eyes just slightly as he felt guilty for what he was doing behind her back. Even if he was relieved, he felt frightened as well. “Please…” he continued quietly and noticed Asseylum tilt her head curiously. “Do not push yourself too much. Take it slow and easy, my princess, and heal properly.”

When he looked up at her again, she gave him a grateful smile. Had Slaine had a beating heart, he was sure it would have fluttered from the warmth in her smile.

“Thank you, Slaine,” she whispered. “I understand you have cared for me all this time according to what Eddelrittuo has told me.” Slaine threw a quick glance at the handmaiden, who jerked slightly and looked at him with a terrified expression. She still feared the cursed blond would get angry at her for doing something he did not approve of. “Thank you for not giving up on me. Most would have accepted that I was truly dead,” Asseylum continued.

“Please,” the cursed blond said kindly. “There is no need to thank me, my princess. I would do anything for you.”

‘ _Once you learn how far I actually have taken that promise, you will hate me_ ,’ he thought and felt downhearted. Luckily, he had become used to lying even with his expressions, which allowed him to lie flawlessly even to the cursed princess.

Asseylum pulled her slender eyebrows together into a frown as she looked at him from head to toe where he sat on the chair next to her bed, facing her.

“I am curious, Slaine,” she said suddenly. The tone of her voice told him she was aware of something she had not spoken about yet, and the cursed blond had a feeling he knew what she was going to ask. He squeezed his hands tightly shut and waited, until his suspicions were confirmed when she asked: “I cannot feel your scent.” She moved closer to him and reached out a hand toward his face. Slaine pulled slight away from her, staring at her hand that reached for him. “Let me…” she whispered as she noticed his uneasy reaction. Worry washed over her face.

“My princess…” Slaine said and furrowed his brows. “Please, touch me not…”

Asseylum’s pretty face contorted with grief as she began to understand.

“I have to confirm,” she said gently.

Finally, her hand cupped Slaine’s cheek. The cursed blond held his breath and felt his body tremble from feeling her gentle touch. Carefully, her thumb brushed his lips and moved to the right corner of his mouth. She pushed his upper lip up just enough to expose the sharp tooth hiding behind it, and, after confirming he had been cursed, she took a shaky breath.

“Slaine… You have been cursed,” she said grieving, and Slaine lowered his head to hide his face behind his bangs.

He felt ashamed, like he had lost some of the value he had had when he had been human.

“Forgive me…” he whispered while her hand continued to caress his cheek carefully.

“Who did this dreaded thing to you?” whispered the cursed princess and pushed his bangs away from his face to look at him.

Slaine shook his head, pulling back some more from guilt and shame for having had his humanity – what Asseylum had cherished the most in him – tarnished by the curse. He was not the precious boy she had gotten to know anymore, and he could not hide it from her.

“Please… Force me not to answer, my princess,” he whispered back. “I have no intention to keep anything from you, but … right now I-“

It was difficult to explain anything to her without revealing too much; he had to keep the truth a secret from her just a little while longer. He flicked his eyes up toward her to meet her saddened expression; she was grieving for having lost the boy she remembered him as, since she was aware of him not existing anymore. It was painful to see her realize this.

“Slai-“

“A lot has happened, my princess,” he finally said, shamefully interrupting her from fear of hearing how saddened and disappointed she was at him to not be the Slaine she knew him as. “I will let you know everything in due time, but right now I believe you should focus on your own recove-“

“You have changed,” the cursed princess said, silencing Slaine immediately. “The gentle air around you disappeared immediately just now. I feared this would happen if you were turned, and I find it quite upsetting to see this having been done to you. Your voice sounded like an officer’s.”

Slaine lowered his eyes again to hide from her gaze that had turned strict. He had not noticed the tone in his voice changing to the tone of someone used to giving orders, and this made him feel shameful. He was less skillful of hiding his cursed nature than he thought.

“Forgive me,” he said quietly and took a trembling breath. “The Slaine you knew is fading for each passing day, and I am helpless against this change. I wish I could stay the same for your sake, but that is simply impossible. Now I understand why Your Highness did not want to turn me.”

“I do not blame you, Slaine,” she said sincerely as she realized her words had been interpreted as accusatory. “I have no doubt this was forced upon you. May I also ask why you are wearing the coat of a cursed noble?”

It was too soon for her to know about things concerning the coat he wore, and he was stressed to mislead her attention away from it. There was no way of knowing how she would react if Slaine told her the truth.

“Your Highness-“ Slaine began to excuse himself, but Asseylum pushed on:

“It worries me greatly to not know what has happened to you, my dear Slaine,” she said and sounded as if she would begin crying. “Forgive me for not being there to protect you. I was trying to get back to Vers, but things went out of hand.”

Slaine looked up at her, surprised she took the changes this gravely. Even if he had suspected she would feel downhearted by the news of him not being his precious boy anymore, the amount of grief she showed baffled him.

He could not deny her what she wanted to know; he could only beg her to not ask. Now, she had asked, and he had no choice but to obey to the extent he thought was safe. Perhaps he should allow her to know just enough while withholding the dangerous information from her, so that she would not grow too curious and begin digging in his past on her own.

“Count Saazbaum,” Slaine said quietly and watched the cursed princess pull back just slightly from hearing the name. “The one who cursed me was Count Saazbaum.”

“T-the same … cursed noble who tried to murder me?” she asked and looked horrified. “Why would he do that to you?”

“Things became chaotic after you nearly died. I had been searching for you during the war until that night on board Tharsis, trying to find you to protect you. Once I found you in the hands of Count Saazbaum, I begged him to save you,” Slaine answered and looked at her carefully. He had to alter the truth somewhat to keep her calm and continued lying: “Count Saazbaum was saved by my father once, and decided to honor my father’s heroism by adopting me. I told him I would refuse if I was not allowed to save you, and he finally agreed, thinking you were already dead and would not wake up. Before his death, however, he decided to curse me to fulfill the adoption properly.”

Asseylum stared at him with utter shock and looked like she accepted his lie – unknowing of how well Slaine had learned to lie. She raised her hands to her lips and shook her head slowly.

“All this time, you-“ She took a deep breath and stared at him. “He has passed away?” she asked, and Slaine nodded. “That means you-“ She made a pause and took a deep and trembling breath before continuing: “Oh… Slaine!”

She flung her arms open and weakly got up from the bed to embrace him. Slaine jumped from the unexpected reaction and nearly pulled away from her, but the backrest of the chair stopped him. Once her arms wrapped around him, enveloping him tightly while her weight rested against him, he felt like falling apart.

“My princess…” he whispered, unable to raise his hands to hold her; he felt like he would sully her with his ugly self if he held her. “Forgive me…”

“The fault is not yours,” she said hurriedly. “Do not blame yourself, Slaine. It is not your fault.”

Tears sprung to his eyes. Everything was his fault. Every single hurtful thing he had done to the world and the still unknowing cursed princess was his fault. Once she learned everything, she would never forgive him.

‘ _It’s all right_ ,’ he told himself. ‘ _I won’t feel that shame and guilt for too long after she finds out; I’ll die before it has gotten the chance to properly torment me_.’

Everything would be fine in the end, he kept on telling himself. None of his crimes would matter once he was dead, which made him continue committing crimes in order to sail his broken ship all the way to the shore. Perhaps he was a coward, but at least he found he was allowed to be just that. If he was brave, he would have not done these horrific things for the right reason. The hurt he felt now was proof that he was somehow committing crimes for the right reason; for someone else rather than for himself. He just did not want to continue hurting once it was over; he wanted to be allowed to rest for the rest of eternity, silently taking his crimes with him and let them fade away along with time while the world recovered. Once he ceased to exist, the world would finally be at peace.

“Please, my princess,” he finally said after a while. “Once you are strong enough, the world will answer to your return with great joy, but, before that, you should take your time to recover. Let me continue handling everything until you are ready to return.”

“You have protected me for all this time, and searched for me during the start of the war. You have even accepted the curse because of me and risked your everything for me,” she said and sounded genuinely downhearted. “That kind of platonic love will get you killed, Slaine.”

‘ _I know_ ,’ he thought and gritted his teeth. ‘ _It’s already killing me. I’m just waiting for the final blow_.’

“Do not worry, my princess,” the cursed blond whispered and felt the other pull away from him to look at him. He gave her a tired smile. “You saved me when I was a child and took care of me like a mother would. I feel eternally grateful for you to have sacrificed your precious time for someone like me, and I want to repay you for all that you have done for me.”

“But Slaine,” she said and cupped his cheeks in her hands, looking at him with a heavy frown of worry. “I have nothing but time; of course I would have shared it with you and will do that again. I am so greatly sorry for not being able to protect you, my precious Slaine, but I am grateful for everything you have done to save my life. It must have been difficult for you.”

Slaine felt tears in his eyes again for someone acknowledging the hard work he had put into her and her dream. Even if she knew only a small portion of everything he had done to save her and keep her alive, it still felt relieving to hear someone being grateful for what he had done. Everyone else had either scolded him or not actually seen what he had been doing. Every now and then, a little empathy or sympathy was appreciated.

“Thank you, Your Highness,” he whispered and put his hands over hers to give them a gentle squeeze.

Asseylum smiled her angelic smile.

“I remember you as a kindhearted boy with soft eyes, who was careful and withdrawn,” she said quietly while gazing into his eyes. “The only time you really blossomed was when you told me your marvelous stories. The rest of the time, you were obedient and silent – somewhat frightened even. Now, however, you have the look of a young man in your eyes,” she said and widened her smile. “You look handsome and brave, with sharp eyes and a capable expression. So much must have happened to you during my time of sleep, and I cannot wait to hear you tell me what you have gone through.”

Slaine pulled her hands down from his cheeks. Her words burned in his dead heart and made him feel gloomy. It was true he had gone through a lot during the past two years, and he had changed so much more than she realized. What she said was the only kind thing there was to say about him, revealing that she had not changed one bit.

‘ _And don’t change either_ ,’ he thought and smiled to her.

“Thank you. You are so kind, my princess. It must have been confusing to see the little boy I was back then to suddenly have become older,” he said, and she chuckled.

“It is,” she admitted. “But it is thrilling as well since you have grown and become so handsome. I must say I am proud despite all the regrettable things that have happened. Even if the air around you has changed, I still believe you are my precious Slaine.” She leaned slightly closer. “The women must turn to look at you wherever you go.”

As she giggled, Slaine felt mortified of what she had said and raised his hands to his face to bury it against them and slumped from shame. If he would have fed recently, he would have gotten crimson cheeks from the cursed princess’s comment.

“What an outrageous thing to say, Your Highness,” he mumbled with a whimpering voice and listened to Asseylum sigh amused.

Gentle fingers played with the ends of his hair, and her voice answered:

“Forgive me. Perhaps I spoke too freely, since my precious Slaine became embarrassed. To think I can still tease you like this.”

“It is because you are you, Your Highness,” Slaine answered and felt joy bubble up in his stomach despite he felt guilty about his crimes. “All your words are profound to me.”

“They always have been,” the cursed princess said silently. “Thank you, Slaine. You truly have saved me. Please, do not hesitate to let me know how I can thank you for everything you have done.”

The cursed blond raised his face from his hands to look at her, and then let his eyes drop to his father’s talisman hanging around her neck.

“Hold onto that,” he said and nodded toward the talisman. She looked down at it with surprise and let her slender fingers take a light hold of it to raise it up toward her face. “That is all I ask,” he continued and met her confused expression with a tired smile.

‘ _Never forget me_ …’

†††

The time he got to rest came to an abrupt halt when evening had fallen and Lieutenant Marito stepped into the tent where Inaho still lay resting. The brunet had been silent throughout the entire day and only stared at the tent wall in front of him and thought about how to find Slaine once again and save him. Yuki had been sitting next to him for several hours, but had then been forced to attend to her guarding duties and left the brunet alone.

“Hey kid,” the man said with a scruffy voice and the smell of cigarette smoke drifted to Inaho’s sensitive nostrils. The man was being disrespectfully smoking in a sickbay. “How’re you doing? Warrant Officer Kaizuka said you haven’t spoken at all today more than a couple of lines earlier when she came to visit you.” Inaho did not answer; he was too exhausted to have anything to say. His mind stood still. “Listen. I have decided to withdraw you from duty for now. I think you and Ensign Areash need time to recover from your adventure in Chunhuazhen. Have you understood, Ensign Kaizuka?”

The brunet felt relieved to be allowed to rest from the battlefield for a while. He needed all the time he could get to figure out what to do in the future once he got his hands on his silver-crowned prince again, and Marito’s unexpected decision made him feel grateful toward fate.

“Yes, Lieutenant Marito,” the brunet answered quietly, not bothering to honor the man with a salute.

“Good,” the man sighed and leaned back in the chair; the creaking sound gave it away. “I have briefed all our men with the new orders and will need to do what with you as well: Captain Magbaredge has been ordered to get into an offensive position and China has sent out their submarine hunters to find the enemy submarines in the area. A large sonar buoy network is being set in the Sea of Japan and all human nations are sending ships and supplies to the area to combat the enemy submarines. Once the battle has started, Magbaredge hopes to be able to lure Troyard’s fortresses out of the Amur Bay and out into open sea, where attempts to sink them will be made. While that is happening, we will push from our side and try forcing the cursed creatures back from Chunhuazhen and fight them over to their side of the Versian border.”

Hearing this made the brunet tense up.

“Take advantage of the distraction out at sea, you mean?” Inaho asked monotonously.

“Yeah, that’s right,” the man answered. “By forcing Troyard to focus on several frontlines at the same time and while trying to protect himself, we hope to get a wedge in his defense and breach it. The UN and China are getting assistance from Turkey, and we will put up a good fight.”

‘ _To split his forces and have him combat several targets at the same time…_ ’

Inaho sat up in bed and looked at the man for a while. He had not revealed anything about what Slaine was truly planning, since he had not been able to figure out what to do with the information he had gathered back in the forest last night. Now, however, that information could come in handy, and he wondered if that would give the human side some kind of advantage while allowing him to get close to his silver-crowned prince. Slaine had told him he planned to let himself be overwhelmed by the humans and the cursed nobles who would fight him at the same time. Was this an opportunity Inaho had to take and make arrangements toward this point in the near future?

“I think we should wait for the right moment,” Inaho decided to say and met Marito’s confused expression with calm. “There is something I haven’t told anyone yet.”

“What might that be?” Marito asked and frowned as interest awoke in his expression.

“Slaine Saazbaum Troyard will do something soon that will give us an advantage, and I think we should wait for that moment to happen before we attack,” he said.

“What are you talking about, Ensign Kaizuka?”

“Troyard will betray his own people. Soon, he will begin attacking other cursed nobles in an attempt to wipe them out of his way. He will try to create his own hegemony, and I am sure the other cursed nobles won’t accept that.”

Marito dropped the cigarette from his lips from shock and it landed in his lap. A couple of seconds passed before he gasped from pain when the cigarette began burning through his pants, and he flailed around and slapped it away before stomping on it.

“Say what?!” he asked and looked up at Inaho the moment the cigarette incident had calmed down. “There will be a civil war in Vers?!”

“Yes,” the brunet answered and stared at the baffled officer. “I think we should wait for that moment before we attack, and attack him at the same time when the other cursed nobles do.”

‘ _And that is when humans and cursed will unite against him under Seylum’s name when Slaine releases his reigns_ ,’ Inaho thought.

He had decided to keep the matter about Seylum a secret for now, since he thought there was no need for the humans or cursed to know about her yet. He had to trust Slaine, and that was what he had decided to do.

“But that’s insane of him to act like that before he has won this war with China,” Marito gasped and shook his head while a wild shimmer shone in his eyes. “Are you sure about this? How do you know this?”

“Because I met him in Chunhuazhen and he told me when I interrogated him,” he lied. “If you don’t believe me, ask Rayet about it, but I think you should trust me and let our superiors know as soon as possible,” Inaho answered. “Troyard will do that any day now. I am sure of it.”

The officer who gaped from surprise stared at him disbelievingly. Inaho knew the information he gave him was difficult to take in, but he was sure he had made the right decision to reveal a little about Slaine’s plan to the humans. This way, Slaine would be cornered, and, this way, Inaho would hopefully get a rare chance to capture him before anyone else did.

‘ _I have to get to his ship somehow_ ,’ the brunet thought. ‘ _During the commotion, I will have to get there somehow and find him_.’

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!” the man complained and got up from the chair. “I will have to report this to our superiors immediately.”

“Then hurry,” Inaho prompted. “The sooner they know the better. While you’re on it,” he continued and stopped Marito from rushing out of the tent. The man turned to look at him. “I need to get on board Deucalion. Send me out to capture Troyard once he is under attack the same way I and Rayet have been sent out previously.”

‘ _If I capture him before he is killed, I can buy me some time to figure out my next step_ ,’ he thought and felt the flow of time go faster around him, making feel stressed out.

†††

They stood in the cursed blond’s office on board Tharsis. Harklight had arrived moments earlier after keeping a guarding eye on the cursed queen and was now standing before his master, ready for duty. Slaine felt like he was watched closely by the human and this made him suspect the stress and nervousness showed on his face. Harklight was aware of what Slaine was going to do, which made the human young man give the cursed blond a pitying look.

‘ _Stay strong, Harklight_ ,’ Slaine thought as he met his gaze for a moment before looking down at a map on his desk. ‘ _Please, don’t betray me_ ,’ he then prayed as he felt frightened of what was going to happen in the near future.

“What happened after that, Harklight?” Slaine asked the other. They were in the middle of a report.

“The Northeast border was secured and my men have been collecting prisoners and secured the area under my order. The area belongs to us now, my lord,” the man answered while Slaine stared at the map where the border of Vers had grown a little.

“Well done,” Slaine praised while a heavy feeling lingered in his being.

“The might of a united front of multiple cursed nobles struck fear into more than the UN, I believe, and has impressed and inspired our nobles to understand the value of a good leader, my lord, because they did not expect a difficult fight like this with the humans, not with the power of the cursed at their disposal,” the manservant continued, but the cursed blond frowned while still resting his eyes on the map.

‘ _You can’t change my mind_ ,’ he thought. ‘ _I won’t take control of Vers; I told you I’m not good at building things_.’

“The curse…” Slaine mumbled. He was getting sick of the curse. It was the single source for all misery ever since it had begun to spread about forty years ago, allowing beings like him to torment the world. “Count Saazbaum lamented the hierarchy built into our society because of the unfairness surrounding blood sacrifices. He went so far as to kill the Royal Family responsible for that hierarchy. Because of this unfairness, the cursed people starved and he wished to rebuild the system anew, and for that he needed pawns that would sacrifice their own lives for his cause.”

“My lord?” Harklight asked and took a step closer, but stopped when Slaine took a step back from him without looking up at him.

“Princess Asseylum, Queen Lemrina… Both are victims of this curse,” he said and took a deep breath. “That holds true to us as well, Harklight.” He finally looked up at the manservant, trying to muster determination into his expression. “However, our days and nights of being swallowed by this curse are at an end. By the power of the curse and the assets I hold, we will be taking down those who are a threat to Princess Asseylum while making it onto an act of trying to gain my own hegemony, fooling everyone to believe I am the enemy. After that is when the building of a new world starts.”

Harklight watched him for a short while before giving the cursed blond a sorrowful nod.

“And that is when you will be attacked by the humans and the cursed nobles supporting Princess Asseylum,” he said quietly, and Slaine nodded.

“And that…” he said and sighed. “Is when I will be freed from this curse and the world will hopefully be at peace.” He made a small pause and looked up at the ceiling in an attempt to shake off the uneasy feeling building up inside him. Facing death a second time was much harder than he thought, and he wondered who his murderer would be. He wished to be allowed to end his undead life himself, but he knew it was important to let someone from the human side kill him. “I need to hasten my plan, Harklight. Time is not on my side.”

“My lord,” the human young man said and took another step forward, but Slaine bore his eye into him and backed away.

“No, Harklight,” he said and shook his head. “I need no comfort, nor do I need someone to convince me to abandon my plan. I have enough distractions as it is.”

“But, master,” Harklight said and frowned heavily. “What you will go through-“

“Enough,” Slaine interrupted him. “Fulfill your duty by taking care of Queen Lemrina, and do not stand in my way. I release you from all your other duties. I thank you for your services.”

“Lord Troyard,” the manservant insisted. “Let me help you.”

“No.”

The cursed blond stared at the dark-haired young man with a strict glare that tore down the other’s defenses immediately. Harklight was silenced and stared at his master with longing eyes. The cursed blond needed to ignore him, and said:

“I will go and see Queen Lemrina. She needs to be given attention to keep her calm.”

“Y-yes … my lord…” the blood sacrifice said silently and let Slaine walk out through the door.

With heavy steps, he walked toward Lemrina’s cabin to honor his promise he made earlier that day. Her behavior had been troubling him throughout the day and Slaine figured he should keep her company and give her whatever she wanted to keep her obedient and calm. For a moment, he felt disgusted to force himself to service someone he had lost interest in a long time ago, but he also knew he had to do everything that lay in his power to keep control of the situation.

‘ _It won’t matter soon_ ,’ he reminded himself again and stopped in front of the cursed queen’s door.

When he was asked to step in, and after he had closed the door behind him, he turned to look at Lemrina who was painting like usual. She looked equally tired like earlier when Slaine had seen her, but seemed focused on the painting. A blue brush dotted paint onto the canvas.

“Good evening,” he said and walked closer to her.

“Slaine,” she chirped and continued painting. “You think I do not notice, but I have begun to understand something you have kept from me ever since you took control of Count Saazbaum’s assets.”

Slaine froze and stared at her. This was bad, and he knew it.

“Lemrina?”

“Our visitor was quite nice to help me realize my role of a pawn in your little game,” she continued and dragged the brush over the painting. “You never loved me, nor will you ever do.” She stopped painting and looked up at the cursed blond, who stared at her with paranoia coiling in his mind, whispering to him he needed to silence her. “I have accepted that, but it is quite difficult to be an obedient pawn when I know I am being lied to. Even I have some self-respect, you know.”

“What are you talking about, Lemrina?” Slaine asked and frowned. He began to feel distressed.

“My sister has woken up, has she not?” she asked, and Slaine’s body tensed up. “Do you mind explaining yourself?”

“Explain myself?” Slaine asked quietly before he began to feel the curse want to protect him from whatever danger he was about to face; he slowly became aggressive. “What is there to explain? That she has woken up is none of your business.”

“What is my role in all this? What do you think I believed when Count Mazuurek told me he has fed my sister enough blood to wake her up?” Slaine felt his breaths stop at hearing her speak about Mazuurek, who had spoken to her. “What do you think I believed when he told me you are using me to get my throne and then toss me aside to take the power over Vers alone, that I have to speak with my sister and work together with her to stop you? I tried to deny it, but this morning you-”

‘ _I can’t do this anymore…_ ’ he thought. He could not trust the silvery blond woman to stay put now that she had shown suspicion toward him. Perhaps this was his cue to relieve her of her crimes and make her into another one of his victims?

“I realize I need to be honest with you, Queen Lemrina,” he said slightly poisonously. Lemrina’s eyes widened at this sudden change in him. “You are exactly right. You sister has woken up but is being contained, and, now, you will be put under observation as well.” He took a step forward to intimidate her. “You are stripped of your position as a queen; I realized I have no need for you since I am powerful enough to throw you away.”

“Slaine!” Lemrina exclaimed and stared at him with eyes that began to tear up. She was greatly wounded by his harsh words, as though she had hoped he would deny her suspicions and tell her he needed her.

“This is the start of a new world,” he said and stopped right in front of her to glare at her with the eyes of a wolf. She stared at him with wide and terrified eyes. “A world without worry or hunger. A world where cursed creatures are not tormented by injustice or war. It will be a peaceful world where humans will be ruled by us cursed, and I shall rule it alone without pesky women clinging to me with arms like snakes.”

Tears rolled down the cursed girl’s cheeks and she released a whimper. The paintbrush fell from her hand and stained her dress with soft blue color, before rolling down the skirt and dropping to the floor with a gentle clatter.

“I must say I am grateful for you calling the remaining cursed nobles to China’s borders,” he continued with pretended calm, letting his aggressiveness take control to be able to lie flawlessly. “Once I have wiped them out of my way, I will be ruling the entire world.”

“This is not true! H-how could you…?” she cried trembling when Slaine leaned forward with a menacing sneer on his lips, whispering:

“Thank you for your patience and cooperation, Lemrina Vers Envers.”

A sudden noise startled him, and a harsh and authoritarian voice said:

“You have truly changed, you monster!”

The voice did not belong to the girl in the wheelchair, and Slaine jolted up and looked over to the bathroom door. Shoulder length golden hair glistened in the fluorescent light and a white billowing dress swayed from her stepping out of her hiding place. Slaine thought his knees would give way beneath him as he saw the angelic creature glare at him with anger and grief mixing in her eyes. Eddelrittuo showed herself as well, crying and looking at him with an apologetic look in her eyes while she feared what would happen now.

“You are no longer the kind and gentle Slaine Troyard I once knew!” Princess Asseylum yelled at the top of her lungs while her eyes slowly began to burn with a silent black flame of fury.

“M-my … princess!” the cursed blond exclaimed and could not tear his eyes away from her. He was completely caught off guard by this unexpected and unwelcomed confrontation.

‘ _What do I do?!_ ’

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you may have noticed, there's been a lot of changes in how Slaine is handling this and what is going on compared with the anime. (@___@) Let's hope he will be able to handle all this! And Inaho, get your ass out there! Hurry!!! D8


	40. Encounter and Farewell 2 & The Unvanquished – Sea of Prayer

 It was difficult to breathe. For each second that passed, his muscles tensed up until they felt tight enough it hurt. The cursed princess’s black-flamed gaze had etched itself into his, apprehending him completely like some kind of absolute force.

The situation was unbelievable. Horrifying. To become a demon this quickly in front of Asseylum’s beautiful form was unexpected and made him feel at a loss of what to do.

“I told her everything,” Lemrina said with tears streaming down her face. She looked agonized by what he had done and said to her moments earlier. “Enough, Slaine. Please, let it be enough.”

Even if Lemrina’s pitiful plea was heartbreaking to hear – mostly because Slaine wanted to obey her because he felt tired – Slaine’s attention was locked onto Asseylum rather than the cursed queen begging him to stop his madness.

He could not stop it. It was impossible. If he did, the world would continue burning even if Asseylum showed herself to her people, and neither of the cursed girls knew of this must he had committed himself to. As long as the cursed nobles who opposed Asseylum were alive, they would target her to protect the change that was occurring in Vers. There was a risk for even the cursed citizens to become hesitant of following her, since Slaine had promised them so much more than Asseylum ever had. The cursed blond had to die before she took over, to rule out the option of following him; the citizens could not have a choice – otherwise they risked of becoming dangerous.

‘ _Calm down!_ ’ he scolded himself while being aware of Asseylum’s every move. She was a third generation vampire after all, just like Slaine, which made her dangerous. He was uncertain of how strong she was, though, considering she had just recently woken up from a long time of sleep. ‘ _Don’t be fazed. Don’t lose to these feelings._ ’

The cursed princess did not move from the bathroom door. Instead, she glared at Slaine with anger and pity. Was she hoping for him to step down?

“In the name of Asseylum Vers Allusia, Princess Royal of the Vers Empire, I order Count Slaine Saazbaum Troyard to immediately cease all hostilities,” he watched the cursed princess say with her gaze slowly sharpening more, and her hands slowly raised a gun she had been hiding behind her skirt to aim at the cursed blond with a steady hand.

A shiver ran down Slaine’s spine. She was willing to point a gun at him – something he should have expected from a capable ruler like her. Despite that, it felt chilling to have the kind Asseylum he had adored for this entire time treat him so cruelly, even if it was her right. Her nation would always be of first priority, like it should for a ruler. Her personal emotions and thoughts, relationships and pleasures would never shine brighter than her duty, and the reverent cursed blond thought of it as the proper ways of a royal.

‘ _She won’t shoot me_ ,’ he thought from sudden dismay that mixed together with shameful relief, as he saw a mournful expression begin to swell in her emerald green eyes for each moment that passed. ‘ _You should… Don’t let the old me affect you and make you forget your duty. Fight me!_ ’

“Please, put an end to this,” she finally pleaded, still with a strong glare despite her feelings making her waver.

‘ _She’s hoping for me to give up so that she won’t need to shoot me. Is she too weak to fight me?_ ’ he then thought as the realization hit him of why she was holding a gun rather than attacking him head on.

After seconds that felt like hours, he finally straightened his back and made his body as tall as possible, staring back at her with a confident glare he barely managed to manifest. He steadied his voice and sharpened his eyes before taking a step forward toward the cursed princess, saying:

“Princess Asseylum.” She tightened her grip around the firearm and steadied her aim. Slaine stayed calm. “I cannot obey your order. You see…” He stopped right in front of her, pushing his chest against the nozzle of the gun, provoking her to remember her duty. “I am no longer a citizen of the Vers Empire. I am terribly sorry, but that nation ceased to exist not too long ago.” Her frown deepened and became pitiful as her emotions took over. “I believe your sister told you that. Did she not?” he continued and took a hold of the firearm. “With her as the sole survivor of your lineage, she assisted me to tear it down and create a new kingdom.”

“Slaine-!” Asseylum said before gritting her teeth and tightening her finger on the trigger.

“I suggest you shoot if you truly disagree with me, my princess,” the cursed blond taunted her, suddenly feeling his lips curve into a sinister smile with a little help from the curse. “Not that it would do you any good, Your Highness, since a bullet or two will not cause me the kind of harm it requires to stop me.”

“H-how could you…?” the cursed woman whispered and got tears in her eyes. “Slaine… Why?”

As her hesitation to shoot him had turned into impotence – or perhaps even unwillingness – he snatched the firearm from her hands and slowly raised it to point it at her forehead.

‘ _I’m so sorry!_ ’ he thought and felt his knees quiver briefly before steadying them with sheer willpower.

“There will never be peace between humans and cursed,” the cursed count said with darkness dripping from his voice. “Therefore, I will take control and end this war once and for all and claim the human population as Vers’s slaves.”

“Slaine, you-!”

“I am terribly sorry, Your Highnesses.” The cursed count raised his voice to interrupt her, and Asseylum jerked from the harshness in his tone. “I must take you both into custody, and I relieve you of your positions as royals.”

It was time to begin the end. By calling soldiers to the cabin and reveal Asseylum to a selected few, the word would slowly begin to reach out among the rest of the crew that their former princess was alive. This would, once it had spread high enough among the ranks, begin to harm him. Doubt would become a common occurrence in the passageways, making the crew ask themselves who they should follow and why. All Slaine had to do was to carefully administer his orders to make the crew believe he was the right choice long enough to start attacking the cursed nobles. After that, he hoped the cursed and humans would begin fighting alongside each other to stop the war’s third challenger that had emerged from within the cursed nation itself.

“You have become a demon,” Asseylum whispered and shook her head slowly. The black fire began to consume her gaze yet again. “How could you give in to the curse this easily, Slaine?! Have you no shame?! This is not the gentle Slaine I know!”

The room was entered by four soldiers, who all stopped dead in their tracks the moment Slaine fired the gun against the bed at the end of the room to silence the cursed princess. The loud bang made all the occupants jump except for Slaine, who glared at Asseylum, saying:

“The Slaine you knew is dead and long gone. He was weak and pitiful and deserved to disappear from the face of this earth.” He turned toward the soldiers, who all looked horrified of seeing the cursed princess still alive. They hurried out of his way as he stepped out of the room with the gun in hand. “Guard these women. They are not allowed out of the room, nor are they allowed to drink untainted blood. Keep them drugged,” he said, and the soldiers honored his order immediately, not daring to question the already maddened cursed count.

As he left the room, the chaotic emotions began to throb painfully. They made him feel weak; his knees protested beneath his weight. An intense feeling of wanting to run away emerged and he was unable to stop it from urging his steps to grow faster and hurry to find a safe place where he was allowed to break down.

What he had done to the cursed princess was horrible. He had hurt and insulted her, humiliated and frightened her. She certainly hated him more than anyone else, since he had turned from a gentle boy into a devil driven by the curse. Even if he knew that was not true – not entirely at least – she still believed he had become a monster, and what she thought of him was profound for him.

‘ _I’m so sorry!_ ’

After rounding a corner, he collapsed against the wall the moment his legs nearly gave way beneath him. To prevent his erratic body from falling over, he took support from the wall and released his breath in a loud gasp, before sucking in another sharp breath and suffocating it as he noticed he was about to scream out loud.

‘ _This was too easy_ ,’ he admitted and thought back to how easily he had been able to withstand the swirling emotions when standing before the cursed princess. ‘ _The curse really has changed me_ …’ Even if his crime of breaking Asseylum’s heart still hurt, it had been shockingly easy to commit it. ‘ _This curse will eat me alive_.’

Instead of releasing his chaotic emotions of guilt, self-hatred and grief, he slammed a fist into the wall. The impact resonated gently in the area and distracted him from buckling beneath the raging emotions that was filling him up, making him fear he would drown.

‘ _I’m so, so sorry_ ,’ he thought. Tears threatened to fall when understanding he had to bid farewell to the kind Asseylum he had adored for all this time. ‘ _I don’t want to be your villain. I don’t want you to hate me. What you think of me means everything to me!_ ’

The moment tears flowed up into his eyes he raised his right hand that held the gun to his lips and bit down on it to punish his body for wanting to cry. His own blood flowed into his mouth and made him feel slightly nauseous, but he ignored it and deepened the penetration until he released a pained groan.

‘ _I can’t stay out here_ ,’ he thought when he let go of his hand and stared at the blood flowing out of his bite wounds before it slowly began to heal. ‘ _I can’t show myself like this to my solders, but I’m not strong enough to solely grit my teeth_.’

He had to hide. If he broke apart in front of his soldiers, they would hesitate on him sooner than they should. Where would he go?, he wondered and straightened his back again while gritting his teeth to bear the growing panic just a little more.

As he began walking down the passageways, moving toward his office, he realized he would find Harklight in that room. It was unacceptable to seek comfort from someone now; he needed to face this anxiety for having broken Asseylum’s heart alone. If he saw Harklight, he would throw his arms around him and cling to him like he had done for the past weeks, and this he could not allow.

‘ _I want to, but I shouldn’t_.’

Without knowing where to go, his mind began shattering more and more. He became stressed and hurried his steps. When tears began pushing through his defenses, his hurried steps turned into a run. Before he knew it, he was running down the passageways aimlessly, pushing everyone he met out of his way while breathing heavily to vent out the pressure in his chest. His soldiers and sailors were confused as they saw him running in such hurry and seemed to become nervous, but Slaine had no time to calm them.

‘ _Quickly!_ ’ he thought as he ran down a flight of stairs and felt tears gather in his eyes. A whimper escaped him. ‘ _Quickly! I can’t hold it!_ ’

The further down in the ship he came, the fewer cursed creatures he met in the passageways. It was a relief, but not good enough. He had to find a hideaway where no one would hear or see him.

A watertight door came into view at the end of the empty corridor. He quickly opened it and dashed inside into the darkness and stopped as the darkness and icy cold air surrounded him. The gun clattered to the floor as relief washed over him. It was an empty area where only pipes and turned off pumps stood along the walls, and a large spare chain lay on the floor. Without noticing, he had run all the way to the bottom deck of the ship, and he was somewhere close to the bow. Here, he found his shelter, and he closed the door behind him and ventured deeper into the large room.

He found a corner deep inside and huddled up in it, pulling his knees up and hugging them close. When he buried his face against his knees, the floodgates were finally released and his voice was freed. With tears streaming down his face, he released a painful howl and began rocking back and forth – just like last night in the forest of Chunhuazhen.

‘ _I’m so sorry, Asseylum! I’m sorry!_ ’

He had done something bad – something horribly bad – and he was at a loss of what to do about it, since he knew it was a necessary evil. These crimes had to be done.

The cold began crawling through his clothes, biting his skin, and the whole cursed body began slowly aching. No wish to stop the pain existed in his mind, and he continued crying until he could cry no more.

†††

“Pack your stuff, Ensign Kaizuka!” he heard Marito’s serious voice from outside the tent in the middle of the night, just a couple of hours after he had told the lieutenant what he knew about Slaine’s plan. “You’ll be transferred on board Deucalion immediately. Seems like our captain answered positively to your request.”

Inaho sat up in the bunk with great relief; he had been unable to sleep ever since Marito had left to speak with Captain Magbaredge about the new information the brunet had given him. Worry about if he was allowed on board Slaine’s ship to capture him had kept him awake throughout the evening and night along with his neck itching from where he had been bitten by Slaine. He had been scratching the itch on and off for about an hour now, and he had slowly begun to accept he was becoming addicted to the cursed venom.

He welcomed the news from Marito as they calmed him down and allowed him to breathe easily again; he was allowed to affect the outcome of what happened with Slaine.

With a deep breath to calm the excitement that began brewing in his chest, he got up from the bunk and began packing the little belongings he had with him. It was not much, and he finished the task within a couple of minutes.

When he got out of the tent, he met Marito’s tired expression.

“You look like you need to catch some sleep,” Inaho said and listened to the lieutenant scoff with a grin spreading on his lips.

“What’re ya talking about? We all sleep like babies in a place like this,” the cigarette smelling man said sarcastically and guided him toward the vehicles. “By the way, have you spoken to your sister about you probably being transferred?” he asked before they stepped up to a military truck with two soldiers in the front seats and one in the back.

“No,” Inaho answered and realized he had completely forgotten about her.

“Perhaps you should hurry up and do that before you leave? Leaving without a word is bad manners, especially in a moment like this,” his lieutenant said, and the brunet appreciated the warning.

“How much time do I have?” he asked the man, who raised his wrist closer to his face and pulled the leather glove back to look at the wristwatch.

“Fifteen minutes should do?” he asked, and Inaho nodded. “Watch out for her clinging hands; she might stop you from leaving.”

Marito gave him the instructions to where to find her. Apparently, she was still on guard duty, and the brunet walked down the base where soldiers were gathered around campfires while others were heading back to their tents to sleep.

“I heard you’re leaving,” he heard the familiar voice of Rayet say from behind a truck before he had reached the area of the forest where Yuki was on duty.

“I am,” Inaho answered and stopped to look at her.

Rayet hesitated for a short moment and turned her gaze away. She looked slightly frightened of him, and the brunet could understand her behavior; he had been merciless in the forest on their way here the night before.

Since he had a shortage of time, he gave her a last glance before continuing to walk toward his sister’s location. He did not get far, though:

“Will I see you again?” she suddenly asked and Inaho stopped. “Are you getting out there to die?”

“No,” the brunet answered curtly. “I have no intention to die.”

“Will you be able to do it alone?” she asked, and Inaho turned to look at her. “To capture a third generation vampire…?”

“I will.” Rayet looked up at him with a baffled look after hearing his determined answer. “Good luck,” the brunet continued. “Thanks for teaming up with me all this time.”

The red-haired girl shook her head, and a slight smile spread on her lips, before saying:

“Thanks for saving me back in Shinawara, and thanks for being my teammate. Good luck to you too.”

The half-human nodded and watched her turn around to disappear toward her tent, and he continued on with his task of finding his sister.

This brief exchange made the brunet aware of how close this war was to end. He was already preparing to say his goodbyes and getting his closures with those around him. Rayet was the first, and he wondered if Yuki would be the next? It all depended on how all of this would end.

In a way, he was saying his sister goodbye as well. Perhaps he would see her in the near future again, but that would be after the brunet had captured Slaine. Once he did, he was certain he would not be the same Inaho he was now; he had a feeling something profound would change in him once he had the elusive Bat in a cage.

“Nao?” Yuki asked surprised as Inaho finally found her. He had ten minutes more to go. “What are you doing here?”

She was wearing full military gear, but she removed her helmet the moment her brother stepped up to her. They stared at each other silently for a while, and the atmosphere grew heavy. The silence spoke louder than any words either of them could voice, and Inaho watched his sister get tears in her eyes after realizing why he had come to find her during her duty. They knew each other well – sometimes a little too well, Inaho though.

“Where will you go this time?” Yuki’s trembling voice asked him. It was thick with sorrow.

“Back to Deucalion,” Inaho answered. “I’ll assist in capturing Troyard.”

A sob escaped Yuki’s mouth and she slowly put her arms around him, hugging him close. She probably felt the end coming closer as well.

“Idiot…” she whispered and pulled her gloved fingers through his tousled hair. “You’ll make me worried sick.”

“I won’t die,” Inaho assured her and stayed obediently in her embrace, just in case he would never see her again. He thought of it as important to let Yuki bid her farewell properly.

“You don’t know that.”

“I do.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I just know,” Inaho said. “You have always told me to trust my gut and make a decision, remember?” Yuki released him and looked at him with tearstained cheeks. “I know I won’t die if I go after Troyard, and I’ll succeed with the task. I have made the decision to try.”

Yuki whimpered and looked somewhat frustrated.

“And my gut is telling me I won’t see you again,” she sobbed.

“That’s your worry as a sister speaking,” the brunet corrected her. “It has nothing to do with your gut feeling.” When Yuki released a saddened chuckle, Inaho raised his arms to hug her back. “I have to go now. There are things I must do. Take care.”

“I will,” Yuki whispered and brushed her hands through his hair again that was wetted by her tears while squeezing him closer. “You’re coming back alive, you hear me?”

“Sure,” the brunet whispered. “You do the same, sis.”

†††

Hesitating steps echoed from the corridor outside. He could hear them faintly. The cold had weakened him and made his joints stiff, disabling him from getting to the door to prevent whoever was approaching from entering the room where he tried to find some kind of warped sanctuary. A hunch that it was Harklight awakened in his slugged mind as he recognized the steps, and he whimpered again.

‘ _Don’t come in here…_ ’ he thought where he sat slumped against the cold wall behind him with a body stinging painfully like he was stabbed by needles all over. ‘ _Leave me be…_ ’

The door opened with a weak screech and a flashlight shed light into the room. The shadows of the pipes and pumps danced on the deck and walls, making them look like eerie beings that had been stirred by the intruder. The steps continued coming closer, and the cursed blond slowly, weakly, raised his head to look at the human young man stopping in front of him. His neck creaked.

Harklight aimed the flashlight away from him to spare his sensitive eyes from the sudden light, and looked at him with great pity.

“My lord…” he said quietly and got down on his knees in front of the cursed blond. “It took a while for me to find you. Some sailors told me they had seen you running down the decks with great urgency.”

Slaine frowned when sadness gripped a hold of him once again, and he whimpered. Harklight’s presence disturbed the numbness that had taken the sorrow’s place, and made him feel all sorts of painful emotions again.

The manservants pitying expression turned into despair and he reached out a hand toward the blond, probably to caress his cheeks, but Slaine pulled away by pushing up against the wall. His body creaked again from stiffness, and the joints stung horribly.

‘ _No, don’t touch me!_ ’ he thought and wanted to scream it out loud, but his voice failed him.

If Harklight touched him, he would want more of him – something he was not allowed after what he had done.

“My lord,” Harklight said and pulled his hand slightly away from his master. “If you are afraid to die, I think you should-“

“That’s not it…” the cursed blond mumbled with a faltering voice. “That’s not it at all…”

It was true he was afraid to die his last death in the hands of an unknown murderer, but that was not why he was hiding in the corner in a dark and cold room like a pitiful creature with a frame that was stiff and sore from the pain from the cold.

Harklight stared at him momentarily before taking word again; trying to find the reason for his master’s suddenly wilted state. He apparently knew nothing of what had happened in the queen’s cabin, as his next words verified:

“Then if you feel overwhelmed by the future musts, let me help you,” the human man said and made yet another attempt to reach out his hand to touch his beloved lord. “If you accept my help, I am sure we can avoid you dying and make the Vers you wish to see come alive before your eyes. I shall support you, and will do it for eternity alongside you, if you would only turn me. I want to accept that gift from you, since I wish to be by your side for as long as your eternity last-“

What the human man said was touching in a clumsy way, but Slaine could not allow such spells to dissuade him from his original plan. The pledge the blood sacrifice made also angered him – so much the pressure chamber in his chest imploded and, when Harklight’s hand nearly touched him again, strength poured back into his tired bones and muscles.

With a deep breath of the cold air and with the joints of his ribs creaking and snapping from their frozen states, he voiced the anger:

“It’s only an illusion!” Harklight jerked and fell back, staring at him flabbergasted, and Slaine continued: “This curse is not a cure for death! It makes you into nothing but a beautiful monster that lives on the life force of others until their luck runs out!”

“M-my lord!” the dark-haired man exclaimed and looked as though his words had unleashed a wild animal from a cage. “I did not mean to-“

He was not given the chance to calm the cursed blond by explaining himself. Slaine was not interested in that. Exhaustion washed over him for being asked to make yet another crime by the victim himself. He simply had no ability to carry another crime in this awful moment. Had he not done enough bad for today?, he wondered.

“I have been isolated from her influence for two years now,” he then continued with a barely audible voice when interrupting the horrified young man, calmly this time. “Don’t you think I should have been free from her by now?” As he stared at the human before him, he felt the need to again be touched by warm hands. “I thought I was, since something about her has changed, but I was wrong. She still rules me like no other, with her words now being as dangerous as daggers and her gaze as destructive as a gun. I have been searching for someone else to cling to during her time in sleep, since I have been lost without her emotional input, but I…”

His voice faded away like a dying breeze, and the room went silent for a while. Slaine had revealed his reason for hiding in a place like this, making the blood sacrifice aware of what burdens weighed on his master’s shoulders.

“What has happened, my lord?” Harklight asked quietly after a while.

Slaine shook his head slowly, again with a creaking neck, and lowered his gaze. His hurting body screamed for warmth, but he had decided to refuse it. Now, however, as Harklight had found his way to his side, Slaine’s determination was wavering. The cold was hurting too much and so was his undead heart.

With a whisper, he answered the human young man:

“I have … committed terrible crimes.”

“Say that again,” Harklight apologized and leaned closer, awakening some kind of thrill inside the blond to feel the slight warmth radiate from him. “I did not hear you, my lord.”

“Crimes…” Slaine whispered again, still not loud enough for the other to hear him. Without noticing it, he was whispering too quietly intentionally to lure the manservant closer to him. If Slaine could not allow him to go to Harklight for support, he would have the young man come to him instead. “I have … committed…”

“My lord,” Harklight answered and moved closer again, looking at him with growing pity. “Kindly raise your voice a little.”

As the human young man’s body heat was caught by Slaine’s frozen cheeks, and the human scent reached his nostrils, Slaine gritted his teeth and chanted to himself to stay put and not give in to the curse’s needs. Or was it his human side that wanted this support? He could not tell anymore when it was acceptable to use the curse as an excuse for his horrible behavior and not.

A touch around his left ankle made him jump. He had not expected Harklight to help himself to touch him. Warmth seeped through the leather boot and reached his chilled bones, and, when he looked up at the source of this warmth, he saw Harklight’s hands around his ankle. The human young man was aware of how much the cold bit the cursed creature, and by a small offering of warmth like this, Slaine’s defenses crumbled and tears sprung up to his eyes again.

“My lord…” the other whispered gently, opening his embrace for the young vampire, and the cursed blond finally threw himself at him with his joints snapping painfully, wrapping his arms around Harklight’s warm body to consume the heat.

It burned. It scorched him. He had been freezing for so long and grown so cold his senses were overcome by the warmth and made it painful.

With a desperate howl, the silver-coated wolf cried:

“Hold me! Please hold me! The end has started and my crimes are piling up. Asseylum knows and hates me! She hates me, Harklight!”

“Of course I will hold you, my lord,” Harklight whispered and wrapped his arms tightly around the clinging cursed blond and held him close. “All you have to do is ask.”

“I’m falling apart, Harklight! I want this to end so badly! I can’t face her! My shoulders are broad enough to carry the crimes of war, but they can’t seem to carry Asseylum’s anger!” Slaine cried and squeezed the blood sacrifice tightly.

Harklight released a strained huff.

“Please, calm down, my lord. Let me be by your side. I will be with you till the end,” he said quietly, and Slaine felt a warm hand steady his head against the human man’s shoulder. “There is no need for you to go from this life to the next alone.”

“Then what do I do?!” the cursed blond exclaimed and clutched at the man’s uniform with fingers that slowly turned into claws.

“Count Cruhteo is on his way,” Harklight said quietly, and Slaine lost his breath as the image of the cursed count who had tormented him for two years emerged in his mind and went silent. “The son to your previous master has hailed us, asking for permission to board Tharsis. He claims he is interested in joining you, my lord.”

“Klancain…” the cursed blond whispered, remembering his former master had a son. He stared at the door through which he had to step through sooner than he wished to. “He is supporting Asseylum … right?”

“He is,” Harklight answered and hugged the pitiful vampire lord tighter, brushing his lips against Slaine’s neck. “He is as loyal as his father was.”

‘ _A loyalist…_ ’ the cursed blond thought. ‘ _He is dangerous._ ’

Slaine breathed in a sharp breath and whimpered, collapsing against the human young man as his body went limp. He knew the son to his previous master was not here to join him. Slaine suspected he had been contacted by Count Mazuurek and been told about the cursed princess still being in existence. Why would the cursed count otherwise approach Slaine in a moment like this after not showing any kind of interest in the cursed blond earlier?

“I…” the cursed blond whispered and made a break to slowly gather strength into his arms again and tighten his hold around Harklight anew. “I have to accept him on board…”

“Yes, you have to,” the manservant answered gently. “You said the end has begun, my lord, and I think he is a key factor to reach the end. He will arrive in three days.”

Another whimper escaped the cursed blond, who finally nodded.

“Will you … hold me for the last time, Harklight?” he asked whispering while tears streamed down his face once more. “Can I ask that from you?”

“Of course, my lord,” the human young man answered and pulled Slaine’s body closer, forcing the cursed blond to straddle his hips. “I shall do anything for you, Slaine Saazbaum Troyard,” he continued and gazed up into Slaine’s eyes with adoration gleaming in the weak light of the flashlight.

Without hesitation, Slaine accepted he could not deny himself the little comfort he could get and lowered his lips onto Harklight’s – kissing him as deep and passionately as he could after deciding to take this last opportunity to feel loved.

†††

After landing on the deck of Deucalion, he was instantly taken to the planning and operations room to speak with the captain. Magbaredge was waiting for him with a strict look in her eyes, which was not too unusual to her due to her experience as an officer of high rank. Inaho stepped obediently inside the room, guided by two soldiers who left the moment they closed the door behind him, leaving Inaho and Magbaredge alone. Not even the captain’s executive officer was present.

“Welcome back, Kaizuka Junior,” the captain said and watched him closely.

“Thank you, Captain,” Inaho answered and waited.

She stared at him for a short moment, almost as if she was suspecting him of something, before walking over to the virtual map on the large table. As she stopped in front of it and waited, Inaho followed and stood on the other side of the table.

“So, you met Count Troyard in Chunhuazhen?” she asked and looked up at him with a questioning look, still as strict as ever.

“I did,” Inaho answered honestly while he understood this was going to be some kind of interrogation, which proved to be right when she continued:

“Would you mind telling me how you encountered him?”

Inaho stared at her for a short while, wondering how honest he should be. He needed to protect Slaine’s true intentions, and figured he needed to stretch the truth a little. He told her everything from the start – that he and Rayet had stayed behind in the city while the rest of the human forces had been evacuated, had managed to move around by Rayet dressing up as an enemy soldier and pretending the brunet was her captive, and hidden in a house not too far away from the city square and had observed the vampires roam the streets.

“That was when we set our eyes on the count,” Inaho explained. “He was running away from the city square for reasons we did not really understand, and that was when I and Rayet decided to jump him. Since he ran so quickly and did not seem to care for possible enemies, he didn’t notice us running after him.”

“And you managed to apprehend him?” the captain asked, and Inaho nodded.

“We did,” the brunet answered and continued: “He managed to struggle free and attacked us, and while we were incapacitated he ran up to the woods. There, I managed to apprehend him a second time after chasing him up there.”

“Is he not a third generation vampire?” Captain Magbaredge asked and frowned, obviously curious of the brunet managing to overpower a third generation vampire, and Inaho nodded.

“He is.”

“Then how did you apprehend him?” the captain wondered. “I must say I am surprised you managed to capture him twice. I expect you to share your tactic for future reference.”

It was not a friendly request for him to share some of his secret home remedies; the brunet clearly heard the hidden order in her words and decided to come clean with which methods he had used to capture the cursed blond – knowing she would probably disapprove of them.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and took out the small box with pills he still had with him. He tossed it to the captain, who let it land in front of her on the table.

“The vampires are weak against tainted blood, especially blood that carries compounds from strong medications such as those pills,” he explained, and Magbaredge looked up at him with a bewildered look in her eyes. “I have built up a tolerance to those pills, which makes me able to fight without feeling too drugged. When he bit me, he collapsed just a couple of seconds later, probably because these pills are tranquilizing.”

“You-“ the captain said with a slight gasp, but Inaho interrupted her:

“This shouldn’t be a surprise to you or anyone else fighting cursed creatures. This is also the same tactic I will use when I board his ship to capture him,” the brunet said. “That is why I want to be allowed out there again, even if it’s without Rayet’s support.”

The captain stared at him without saying a word for a long time. Inaho knew she disliked his way of doing things, mostly because of the danger it implied of letting a cursed creature get close enough to bite down into a human’s neck. The risk was great, since there was no way of knowing if the cursed creature would kill rather than feed themselves, and then there was the danger of the addiction.

These were risks Inaho was fine with taking, mostly since he had a feeling the cursed blond would not – perhaps even could not – take the Inaho’s life; the cursed blond wanted someone to kill him, and Inaho’s killing strike was probably the safest.

‘ _But I won’t kill you, Slaine_ ,’ the brunet thought, but was woken up by the captain who wanted to know what Slaine had told him and why. Masterfully, Inaho lied and modified the truth to hide what had been going on between the cursed count and half-cursed boy for a long time, but still told her enough to satisfy her.

“You have to understand it will become dangerous on board the count’s ship once the battle starts,” Captain Magbaredge then said and bore her gaze into his.

“I am aware of that,” the brunet answered, ready to stand his ground in case she would refuse him to get out there to capture the cursed count. “I am still willing to do it.”

The captain nodded after staring at him for a short while, deciding she would accept his request and let him be an expendable.

“We have all reasons to doubt what Troyard told you, and we will monitor his movements closely,” she continued and looked down at the map, which’s bluish shine lit up her serious expression. “We will sail to outside Japan’s coastline and will arrive in a couple of days. If he has not attacked the cursed nobles by then, we will attack the Japanese coast and lure him out of Amur Bay. If he aims at our possible future allies, we will take the opportunity and act quickly once the cursed nobles turn their firepower at him and join the battle both as support and attackers.”

“You should try contacting those who are attacked by him,” Inaho told her, secretly paving the way for Slaine’s plan to become a success.

‘ _All of this is greatly uncertain. I just have to hope Slaine knows what he’s doing_ ,’ he thought and watched the captain nod.

“I believe that is the way to do this,” she answered. “We need to let the cursed nobles know we are not a threat once we join in the battle,” her voice continued. “The main problem I see with this all is that we might not be accepted as an ally.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Inaho said curtly, and Magbaredge looked up at him with a questioning frown. “They will accept us. I am certain of that,” the brunet assured her.

‘ _Seylum will see to it_.’

†††

“I apologize for the delay,” he said as he stepped inside his grandeur office, and his eyes landed on the cursed count looking at a painting. The other cursed blond turned around and met his gaze. “As I understand it, you have come all this way to join me in my quest to conquer China,” he continued with a courteous smile, although he felt nervous behind it.

Klancain had arrived just in time – three days after he had hailed Tharsis – and Slaine had allowed him on board and was now to greet him with pretended politeness. This would be nothing but a stiff act of charades.

“We are quite a long way from Vers, after all,” Count Klancain Cruhteo answered, widening his lips into a respectful smile as well. Slaine noticed the sham in the other’s smile. “I am afraid my deepest condolences for your father’s passing and my congratulations for your succession are long overdue, Lord Troyard, but please accept them nonetheless.”

‘ _He’s just playing humble_ ,’ the cursed blond thought. ‘ _Will he reveal why he really is here?_ ’

“No, it is I who must apologize for failing to congratulate you on your own succession to the highest title of cursed nobility,” Slaine answered, trying to keep the young count manageable for now. It was still too soon for him to start the fire that would consume him. “However, I must ask for your forgiveness for my late father’s hostility toward your father that ended up taking his life, Count Cruhteo.”

“Thank you, Lord Troyard,” the other cursed count said with a slight wryness to his smile, continuing: “Klancain is fine. I am still unaccustomed to the title.”

“As you wish then,” Slaine answered, maintaining his smile despite he felt disgusted by these charades. He knew Klancain knew Slaine was simply playing him; the air around the young cursed man made it feel like that. They both knew this politeness was nothing but a pretense to reach their respective goals. “Queen Lemrina is eager to greet you, but I must regrettably inform you she is resting in her chambers. This war is taking its toll on us all.”

“That is perfectly understandable,” Klancain answered, and his smile disappeared and a downhearted expression manifested on his smile. “To think our dear late princess had a sister… Thank goodness Count Saazbaum found her. Vers would have fallen into turmoil had she not been found; I am sure an internal battle amongst us cursed nobles would have erupted to determine who would take over the throne.”

Saazbaum had thought the same thing back when he had decided to use Lemrina as a pawn before trying to kill the royal family. Even if the royal family had no specific need to exist, the sense of safety and guarantee to have a family to carry the burdens of the nation had seemed deep into the cultural and political roots in the cursed society. If that safety disappeared altogether without a firm leader to take command, the system would crumble while people fought over the throne. The nations of previous heirless great leaders had fallen apart the moment those leaders had died, and that pattern seemed to never have changed ever since ancient times.

“I remember your late father did not show much trust in the other cursed nobles, since he seemed to be aware of this hostility in the noblesse,” Slaine said and gestured to the pompous chairs around the conference table. “Please, have a seat and enjoy my hospitality.”

Slaine ordered Harklight to serve them warm blood, and the blood sacrifice did as he was told and entered the office with a small tray with cups after drawing some blood for them both. The cursed count and his manservant exchanged a glance from nervousness from them both knowing the visiting count was someone who would most probably turn out to be dangerous to the cursed blond, but they broke it before Klancain had the time to notice it.

“I am most indebted to your father,” Slaine said and picked up the cup of blood Harklight had served them, before the blood sacrifice had left the room again to leave the two cursed counts alone.

“He was not hard on you?” Klancain asked and took up the cup of blood from the table as well, mirroring Slaine’s relaxed manners to maintain the charade. “He was a man who was stern to a fault.”

“I learned a great many lessons from him,” Slaine said with a bitter taste spreading on his tongue while the flashbacks to Cruhteo’s ruthless hands and teeth flickered in his mind. To distract his mind from the distressing memories, he raised the cup of blood to his lips to have a sip, and continued: “I would not be the man I am today were it not for him.”

Klancain’s expression suddenly turned sour, and Slaine thought for a moment he saw the other count’s true feelings being expressed. The cursed blond waited patiently and watched the other think for a while, before Klancain took the word:

“Tharsis…” he said, furrowing his brows while staring at the blood in the cup. “I am glad that it appears to be of some use to you, Lord Troyard.”

Slaine wondered if the cursed young man was feeling resentful for Slaine owning his late father’s ship and decided to meet the other cursed count where he was, and said silently and slightly softer:

“It must be strange for you to see me own the ship he used to command.”

“It is,” Klancain answered and looked up at the cursed blond with a serious look in his eyes. Somehow, the stale air between them began to feel oppressing. “After the late Count Saazbaum claimed it, I was left with barely any of my father’s assets.”

“Is that why you are here?” Slaine asked and placed the cup of blood onto the table again. “I was told you traveled all the way from St. Petersburgh to visit me in order to ally yourself with me.”

Klancain closed his eyes for a while and his frown deepened.

“Perhaps this kind of pleading is unfitting for a cursed noble, but I find it my duty to serve Her Highness and Vers. Without any military assets under my command, I fear I have no way of fulfilling this duty, and this will bring shame to my family name.” The cursed young man opened his eyes and looked up at Slaine with a determined expression, and said: “If you would grant me a ship, I would be able to fulfill this duty. In exchange, I will do this duty under your command.”

‘ _He’s faking_ ,’ Slaine thought and felt wary of the other. The curse screamed at him that this was a rival who he should neutralize. ‘ _But I shouldn’t… If I keep this man close by, I will be defeated and Asseylum will be saved much sooner than otherwise, and the humans might get a chance to join the battle._ ’

“That would be most reassuring, Lord Klancain,” the cursed blond answered with a smile that was more genuine than fake, and his opponent’s determined expression morphed into bewilderment. “I look forward to it. As a matter of fact, I do have a ship in the need of a leader.” Klancain kept on staring at him with shock, unable to say a word from the surprise of how smoothly his plan had worked out. “Would it be fair of me to hand over my late father’s ship to you?”

“Dioscuria…?” Klancain asked, and Slaine nodded before he decided to acknowledge Klancain’s bewildered expression.

“Dioscuria – named after the Greek word for festivals to honor the twin brothers Castor and Pollux in Greek mythology, who also went under the collective name of Dioscuri and are the Gemini constellation in the sky according to the Latin version of their story. The twin sisters Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra were their half-sisters,” the cursed blond said softly. “Quite a gentle name to a battle ship, do you not agree, Lord Klancain?”

Klancain frowned, surprised of Slaine’s friendly words that told him a tale he probably never had heard before.

“I thought Dioscuria was a name of a goddess of disharmony?” the other cursed noble asked, and Slaine shook his head.

“No, the one you are referring to is named Discordia. She was the Roman equivalent to the Greek goddess Eris, who was the main reason for the war of Troy. Castor and Pollux served as patrons to sailors, who appeared before them in the form of St. Elmo’s Fire; a weather phenomenon considered as a good omen,” Slaine explained and saw Klancain’s expression become confused. “Or did you wish for something else than an aircraft carrier?” he asked to push the other into giving him an answer.

“Oh, not at all!” Klancain exclaimed and seemed to snap out of his confusion. “To think you are this willing to put your father’s ship under my rule… It is more than enough. I was – in all honesty – expecting something smaller.”

Slaine released an amused chuckle, and sipped some of the blood again before saying:

“Anything smaller would not suit a cursed noble. Do you not think so, Lord Klancain? I expect you to handle her with care while honoring my orders with great sense of detail.”

The cursed count nodded and took a small sip of the blood, and said with a relieved voice:

“Of course, Lord Troyard. This new kingdom of Vers is opening up a new world for us cursed. I am sure Princess Asseylum and His Highness Rayregalia would have thought of this as a difficult task, but welcomed nonetheless.”

‘ _Liar…_ ’ Slaine thought and felt the cursed fire him up again. Quickly, he calmed it down. ‘ _If you are a loyalist, you shouldn’t he so quick to agree with me in what I am doing in Asseylum’s name. I know you know her better than you pretend to_.’

“Queen Lemrina has thought of this carefully for a long time. She cares deeply for the people, just like her late sister did. She is walking in her footsteps but with slightly longer strides,” Slaine said and felt a bitter feeling spread in his being for knowing both of the cursed girls were locked up inside Lemrina’s cabin, drugged to the point they lay in a daze.

“She truly is,” Klancain answered and finished the cup of blood. “Do you mind letting me take a walk on Tharsis? I did spend a lot of time here a couple of years ago after all when it was under my father’s ownership,” he then asked, and Slaine understood this was his cue to start the fire.

‘ _So you can search for Asseylum or Mazuurek?_ ’ he thought.

“Of course. Please, do not hesitate strolling down the passageways while I prepare Dioscuria and her crew for your arrival,” he answered and finished the cup of blood as well.

‘ _I will have to begin the attacks on the other cursed nobles immediately_ ,’ he thought and felt the weight of the crime already dangle from his shoulders like heavy chains, but he would not be bested by the anxiety. ‘ _It begins now…_ ’

†††

“Ina-?” a girl’s voice was about to say behind him, but she interrupted herself and stayed silent for a while.

What had silenced her was the brunet’s quiet hiss as something stung his neck horribly. Perplexed, Inaho lowered his hand from his neck where he had been scratching the scabs left from Slaine’s bite, and realized it not until now that he saw blood on his fingertips that he had scratched his neck sore and broken the skin. His thoughts had erupted into an insoluble mess while he had been gazing at the Southern Japanese coast far away in the distance, sitting on the flight deck of Deucalion, which was being prepared for battle.

“Oh, Inko,” the brunet answered and looked up at Inko and hid the hand with blood. He knew she had seen it, but he decided to pretend like nothing. “What’s the matter?” he then asked and made his voice sound a little brighter than usual.

“Um…” she started and looked awkward. Inaho decided to insist nothing was wrong to keep her meddling in his business. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, why?” the brunet asked and turned to look at the mountain tops again, not wanting to look her in the eyes.

“Oh, n-nothing. I just…” she mumbled and went silent for a while. Then, she squatted down next to him and hugged her knees. “You can barely make out the mountain tops, right?” she asked and seemed to accept Inaho’s dismiss to speak to her about his issue.

“Yeah, barely,” Inaho answered and turned to look at the silhouettes of mountains again.

“To think we’re back here in our home country,” she said with a longing sigh. “I wonder how it looks like back in Shinawara now.”

“Probably abandoned and empty like we left it,” the brunet answered and felt a tension between him and the human girl.

“Inaho…” she whispered again with the careful voice she always had when she would try to convince him to not go out in battle. “Are you taking this seriously? Why are boys always like this?”

Inaho did not look at her; her breaking heart was not his problem and he felt like she was trying to force it on him by not accepting him not being interested in her the same way she was in him. It frankly made him want to push her away.

“Stubborn?” the brunet asked and saw Inko nod in the corner of his eye. “I don’t think stubbornness has anything to do with me being a boy,” he corrected her. “I believe you know my sister well enough to know she’s just as stubborn as me.”

Inko went silent for a while, but then took a deep and quivering breath.

“I heard you’re going out there alone. After the condition you came back in from Vladivostok and all… Why won’t you let everyone else handle this? You’ve done enough,” she said with a voice wavering from sorrow.

“I can’t do that,” the brunet answered frankly, and the human girl suddenly burst out angrily:

“Why not?! Do you think you’re some kind of hotshot ace? That you’re special?”

“I never thought of myself as something like that. Everyone else seems to be the guilty of that, since they treat me like that,” the brunet answered, and felt Inko’s strong hands take a hold of his uniform and turned him to look at her.

Her eyes were filled with tears.

“Darn it, Inaho!” she cried and shook him slightly; she was afraid of angering him by shaking him too hard. “Why do you act like you don’t see it?! If you go out there to chase that Troyard down, you might not make it back this time! You’re addicted to their poison ever since the battle in China, right?! You’re challenging fate a little too much this time!”

She began crying. With shame covering her expression, she leaned against his shoulder to hide her tears.

“Inko…” the brunet began to warn her of people walking their way, but she interrupted him with a silent voice:

“I’m tired … of worrying. You don’t understand how scared I am for you…”

Inaho let her cry for a short while, before he took a hold of her shoulders to stop them from shaking.

“I can’t be the only one taking it easy when you all begin the battle,” he said quietly.

The approaching steps stopped behind them, and Calm’s voice said:

“He’s right, Inko. He’s strong enough to whoop that Troyard’s ass, and I think you shouldn’t make it harder for him by begging him to stay. The kindest thing you can do is to stay quiet and let him go.”

Inaho got the feeling Calm knew her feelings for him and also knew the brunet did not harbor any special feelings for the girl. He silently thanked his friend for stepping up to save him.

Inko sniveled and jerked from her sobs.

“We have to worry about the world, and not our feelings, since our feelings will mean nothing if that Troyard captures us all,” Nina said quietly. “We all have to fight.”

Inko pushed herself up from Inaho’s shoulder and dried her tears before looking up at Calm and Nina to acknowledge their presence, and then looked at the brunet again. Inaho did not wish their possibly last exchange to be hurtful; even if Inko was not as precious for him as she had been earlier when he had been a human, he still thought of her as a friend.

‘ _I’ve just grown apart from you because of this curse_ ,’ he thought, accepting the change occurring in him.

“Don’t worry; everyone will be alive at the end of this all,” Inaho said and gave her a slight smile. “My gut feeling says so.”

“Right you are, buddy!” Calm said and gave his shoulder a friendly pat, and a weak smile began spreading on Inko’s lips.

“Capture that Troyard, Inaho,” Nina said. “We’ll be rooting for you loud enough you hear it all the way to his ship!”

“Thank you all,” the brunet said as a smile spread on his lips, before the announcement from their captain came out through the speakers on board:

“ _All hands to their stations! Ready for battle!_ ”

†††

“Dioscuria is yours,” Slaine said as he had reunited with Klancain again just about an hour later after the cursed count had boarded his ship.

The cursed count still did not seem to understand the cursed blond was giving him an aircraft carrier; Slaine knew Klancain had probably expected Slaine to be more reserved and dismissive than he had been.

“Thank you for your kindness. I am greatly honored,” Klancain said and bowed, and Slaine was just about to take word when he was interrupted by Harklight’s hurrying steps, before the manservant said:

“My lord. Your territory in Japan is being under attack by three UN ships; their flagship Deucalion and two destroyers. What are your orders, my lord?”

Slaine turned to look at him with shock.

“Japan?” he asked confused, and Harklight nodded. “Why would the humans attack-?”

The manservant gave him a meaningful look, and Slaine realized what was going on. This was probably a trap; the cursed blond could not come up with a single reason to why Japan would have value for the humans. Why would UN waste their military resources on Japan when the superpower China was under threat? Slaine and the other cursed nobles had been pushing their forces deeper and deeper into China’s nation.

‘ _This makes no sense_ ,’ he thought baffled. ‘ _This is a trap_.’

“Very well,” the cursed blond said and felt his knees grow weak. “Leave Herschel in Amur Bay. Tharsis and Dioscuria are to sail to Japan and silence this noise along with the Troyard Fleet. I cannot have the bothersome humans soil my name by stealing territory from me.”

“Yes, my lord. I shall see to it immediately,” Harklight answered and hurried away to execute Slaine’s order.

The cursed blond turned to look at Klancain, saying:

“You will assist me, Lord Klancain. This is a perfect opportunity for you to show me what you are capable of. This should be a quick diversion.”

The cursed count and son of Slaine’s former master furrowed his brows and gritted his teeth while glaring at the cursed blond with great determination.

‘ _Will you come and end me, Inaho?_ ’ he thought. ‘ _This wolf in front of me is baring its fangs; you should hurry, half-human, before someone steals your prey._ ’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooh gawd! Ending is almost here! About 2 chapters to go, perhaps! (@_______@)


	41. Inherit the World – The Previously Told Story 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A double update!

It took merely two and a half day for Tharsis along with the Troyard Fleet and Dioscuria to arrive to Japan’s coast where UN was causing damage on the territory’s infrastructure. The trap was set and, as both the Versian and UN ships glowed on the radar, Slaine took a deep breath. The walls were closing in on him, he could feel it clearly; UN was further up ahead at a distance of four nautical miles, and Klancain had obediently tailed him on board Dioscuria, now floating right behind him, probably waiting for the right moment to attack him.

‘ _He knows about Asseylum, but he can’t attack me yet_ ,’ he thought and felt the pressure growing in his chest once more.

“Harklight,” he said silently and turned his attention from the radar to the video feed the F-35B’s were sending to the admiral’s quarters on board the ship. Enemy soldiers had gone ashore several days ago and were securing the areas and creeper deeper onto Japan’s soil.

“Yes, my lord?” the human young man asked, and Slaine turned around to look at him.

“How is Mazuurek?” the vampire lord asked and watched the human’s expression turn somewhat sour.

“He is regaining strength, my lord,” he answered, and Slaine nodded.

“And the princess and queen?”

“They are still weak, but are slowly getting stronger as well from the recent meal.”

“And the crew on board?”

“They are spreading rumors and are discussing quietly amongst themselves.”

“Good…” the cursed blond whispered and took a deep breath to raise the radio to his lips.

He hesitated and stood frozen for a while. How was he supposed to give the order now again? Two attempts had failed already; he had not been able to give the order he needed to say in order to take the last step toward his end. He had practiced several times – spoken to his own reflection and repeated the order in his head all night. Now, however, that did not help him at all. It was difficult to say the words, and he had to get a moment to gather his resolve.

“Lord Slaine?” Harklight asked carefully, and the cursed blond turned around to look at his blood sacrifice.

Harklight… The man who was willing to go down with him and stop his existence along with him, all because of Slaine’s foul greed to lock the other inside an emotional cage for a little bit of comfort. What an outrageous crime it had been. The cursed blond was ambivalent about what to do with him. He felt guilt, but he also felt gratitude for not dying alone. Then again…

“Once this battle starts,” the cursed blond said and saw Harklight change his posture into a dutiful stance, ready to serve. The young vampire frowned at the sight, and said: “You have to evacuate.” The blood sacrifice frowned heavily and was about to protest, but the tired blond interrupted him before he had the chance to speak up: “I won’t listen to your objections, Harklight. Just do as I say and don’t talk back at me.”

There was certain tiredness in his own voice he had never heard before. It sounded heavy, as though his mind and soul had gotten enough of the heavy duties they had tried to bear. The undead body felt strange as well, as if it knew its own future destruction was just a leap away. His entire being was exhausted, and, strangely, his instincts had accepted his end for the most part, and he was grateful for it.

With a lungful of air, he leaned his head back and gathered his resolve. He only needed to give the last order, and then his words would lose their meaning quickly and he would meet the dead end of this narrow road he had wandered into.

‘ _It’s time; don’t hesitate_ ,’ the cursed blond thought and pushed in the call-button on the radio, getting one order closer to his last as he called for Captain Ramius and the rest of the Akula submarines.

Immediately, as he ordered the attack on Countess Azelein, Count Orga, Countess Barbarion and Count Selkinas, confusion and hesitation answered back from the large sharks loaded with dangerous warheads. He gave the order once again, explaining the cursed nobles were disloyal and a threat to Queen Lemrina’s new Vers, and added some harsh assurance to the order to remove some of the confusion on the other end. Soon, his order was acknowledged after a short moment of radio silence.

Once the order had been said and confirmed, his breath escaped him and he leaned against his arms on the desk, feeling terribly nauseous. Then, he raised the radio to his lips again, deployed all the aircraft on board his ship to attack the UN ships and troops on the shores of Japan – rendering his Tharsis dangerously defenseless in Dioscuria’s shadow, which deployed a third of its aircrafts as well. No one expected him to be attacked by the ship that had tailed him all the way to this battle, nor would enough people expect the UN to have set up a trap to spread worry on board. They all trusted their leader knew what he was doing.

With tension, he waited for Klancain to receive the news about the maddened cursed count’s order to attack Versian nobles. He did not bother to look at the screen showing what was going on outside the ship. He did not bother to care about giving other orders. He only waited for the reply telling him the missiles had been deployed, and, once it came, he received it with a steady voice, only to drop down on his knees once he let go of the radio in his hand.

His duties were over, and paranoia became a dear friend of his that whispered poisonously about dangers into his ears.

Within an hour, he would be targeted by Klancain. Before that, there was a risk for the UN to begin attacking him instead; triggering the trap he had sailed into. Were Chinese and UN submarines hiding in the waters? The anti-submarine warfare systems had not recognized any threats in the area, but Slaine was certain the small UN fleet were not the only enemy ships close by.

‘ _Stay calm…_ ’ he thought and took a deep breath.

“My lord Slaine,” Harklight said and was about to hurry over to the kneeling cursed count, but Slaine stopped him immediately:

“I’m fine,” he said with a heavy exhale. “I’m fine, Harklight. I’m fine. Take the MOB boat and flee. Get away from here before the sea is stirred by battle.”

“I will not le-“

Slaine was tired at the blood sacrifice for being obstinate; he wanted him to get away and seek refuge from the UN as an escapee. The manservant was too loyal; Slaine had infected his mind with emotions that made the human young man attached to him, and he could not allow Harklight going down with him because of such reasons.

“There cannot be any escape routes left for me once this ship is going down!” the cursed blond exclaimed, interrupting the human young man. “In case the humans fail to kill me because of this sturdy undead body, then I will have to go down with the ship! Take the MOB and go!”

‘ _You shouldn’t die when I must; free yourself from me and stop my cowardice from trying to save me_.’

Harklight stared at him determined for a short moment, before he took a sharp breath to say:

“I will not leave you.”

The unpleasant vow resonated bitterly in Slaine’s mind, and the cursed blond stared at him with frustration forcing out angered words from between his lips:

“Do you even understand your situation?” the young vampire said. “You are willing to die next to someone who has used you for comfort!” Harklight did not move a muscle as Slaine had decided to scare him away. “I don’t love you, nor will I ever love you! I was just using you; I intentionally made you fall in love with me so I could use you! It was all a lie!”

They stared at each other for long seconds, not saying a word to the other. The air between them grew heavy with tension, and it was the first time Slaine felt a strange kind of nervousness; Harklight had never looked at him the way he did now. Determined. Strong. Unyielding. Courageous. He was everything Slaine was not.

“ _What they feel is real even if it’s a lie from your part. You can’t decide people’s destinies like that_ ,” he suddenly heard Inaho’s words echo in his mind. The brunet had told those words in the forest of Chunhuazhen, and it made Slaine feel frustrated that no one seemed to agree with him. “ _Stop insulting them like that_.”

‘ _What the hell do you know?!_ ’ the cursed blond argued silently against the memory. Tears began to well up in his eyes, and he gritted his teeth to hold them back. ‘ _Harklight is blinded by love, just like you and … me…_ ’

Without warning, a familiar but angry voice called him on the radio:

“ _What is the meaning of this, Lord Troyard?!_ ” Klancain said on the radio, and Slaine turned to stare at it on the floor in front of him. His voice was controlled, but Slaine could feel the anger emitting from it as it continued: “ _Cursed nobles are being attacked by you! I demand to know why?!_ ”

Slaine’s breath escaped him at hearing those words. What would he say? He had practiced this as well last night, over and over again – and just like with the order, his actions did not obey his mind.

A movement at the door made the cursed blond look up, and he saw Harklight turn around toward the door. The blood sacrifice opened it without saying a word and stepped out of the office, closing the door with his back against the cursed blond to disappear from his side. Suddenly, the vampire shrunk at the spot as he was being abandoned. There was no one left now; he was all alone.

‘ _Harklight… I’m sorry_ ,’ he thought while Klancain began to raise his voice on the radio when Slaine failed to answer:

“ _This is outrageous and a crime against Vers! I am certain Queen Lemrina did not give this order; she would never damage her nation like this, nor would Princess Asseylum or her grandfather approve of this! Explain yourself! What is your answer?!_ ”

Slaine frowned and reached for the radio, gathered his senses as much as he could and said:

“Queen Lemrina does not know what is best for her. The targeted nobles are all a threat to our new Vers, but she has failed to see it.”

Klancain did not hold his reply for long:

“ _If what you say is true, I want to hear on what grounds you charge them with such an outrageous crime! You are committing mutiny against the royal throne of Vers and its royal family!_ ”

“I expect you to understand, Lord Klancain,” Slaine said and steadied his voice as much as he could. “I cannot endanger our newborn nation by following the orders of our inexperienced queen.”

There was a dangerous pause in the other cursed man’s reply and Slaine finally let go of the radio and let it fall onto the floor once again. He had no need for it anymore. Whatever happened from here was not up to him.

“ _By the Royal Family of Vers and in the name of our late emperor, I – Count Klancain Cruhteo – bestow my punishment upon you, Count Slaine Saazbaum Troyard, for committing crimes against the Royal Crown!_ ” Klancain’s voice said on the open radio channel, declaring war against the cursed blond.

All Slaine could do was to sigh and let his shoulders slump. There was no turning back now – and his entire undead being felt it.

‘ _Inaho… Please, hurry. I can’t take this much longer!_ ’

†††

Inaho stood in the hangar bay and watched Slaine’s ships that had arrived to the area through binoculars while tumult was deafening him and everyone else as people hurried to load missiles onto carts to reload the arriving aircrafts that needed to refill their missile bays. The silver-crowned prince must have been aware of this attack on Japan being a trap, since Inaho knew the cursed blond was not unwise. Then why had he brought a second aircraft carrier with him?

‘ _He has deployed all of his aircrafts from his flagship, while the other has only deployed a couple of handfuls_ ,’ Inaho thought and frowned while he watched the ships just a little more than seven kilometers away. ‘ _His own ship is defenseless like this_.’

The brunet suspected Slaine had decided to hasten his end by disarming his ship from aircrafts, but he was confounded about the other ship behind Slaine’s that had only deployed less than half of its aircrafts on board. If UN were to attack the silver-crowned prince now, the battle would most certainly heat up far more than UN was prepared for, since the enemy fleet was far from defenseless at the moment.

‘ _Only one ship is partially disarmed… What are you up to, Slaine?_ ’ Inaho wondered.

“All geared up and ready to go?” Calm’s voice yelled from somewhere behind him, and Inaho lowered the binoculars and turned to look at the young man who had grease and dirt all over his coverall and face. “The rotorcraft is being prepared,” he notified, and the brunet nodded.

“Are you not on duty?” Inaho wondered, and the Westerner smiled tiredly.

“I am, but my aircraft and its pilot is still out there. I was helping the others to prepare the helicopter assigned for your mission,” a breathless voice said and the young man leaned forward to stretch his back. “To think our new year starts like this. We even missed Christmas and New Year’s Eve.”

“We are busy,” Inaho said, somewhat strictly and watched the young man rise up and pull his hair out of his eyes; it had gotten longer after he had not bothered cutting it for months. Plenty of people had stopped caring about such trivialities; the entire crew on board Deucalion was expressing a collective depression after fighting a long time in this heartless war. “It can’t be helped,” the brunet continued.

“War doesn’t take time to celebrate holidays, huh?” Calm said and leaned back a little to continue correcting his tired back.

A sudden explosion far away in the distance made them both stagger back, and when Inaho turned his attention to the enemy ships he saw black smoke towering up toward the sky from Slaine’s flagship. UN had not fired, and the Chinese submarines lying in wait had stayed silent as well. Then why was Slaine’s ship emitting smoke?

“Did someone attack?” Calm asked shocked and stared at the enemy ships far away in the distance.

“No human ships are to attack Troyard like this,” Inaho said and raised the binoculars again while people began noticing the black smoke in the horizon. “We are only supposed to defend our fleet and the little territory we have conquered at shore.”

Several minutes passed, and then a second explosion was heard from the enemy ships. Slaine’s ship had fired its cannons, but no alarm went off on board Deucalion to warn for enemy fire. Instead, the fire hit the other aircraft carrier behind Slaine’s flagship, and that was when Inaho understood what was going on.

“Is he shooting against his own?” Calm asked with a breathless exclamation.

“It’s begun,” Inaho said and hurried to find Captain Magbaredge who he suspected was busy contacting the ship that had fired at Slaine.

†††

Alarms were sounding across the ship after Tharsis had taken the first blow from Dioscuria’s cannons. The radio was immediately overtaken by stressed voices, all of them trying to contact their admiral to report the damages and asking for orders. Slaine was shaken after the deafening explosion and the quakes, but had managed to order retaliation actions to be taken toward Klancain for attacking the Tharsis.

“ _What is your next order, my lord?_ ” the voice of Tharsis’ captain asked in the radio. When Slaine did not reply, the experienced cursed man continued: “ _Shall I call back the aircrafts? Count Cruhteo is deploying some of his aircrafts, probably to attack the Troyard Fleet._ ”

The cursed blond stared at the radio in his hand and felt it vibrate from the speaker each time he was being contacted by someone in the officer staff.

“ _My lord, Count Troyard! Please, give us directions!_ ” the captain finally exclaimed after a couple of patient tries.

‘ _I don’t know!_ ’ the pitiful cursed creature thought as the reality of his situation was overwhelming him. Klancain’s attack had shocked him to the point his mind had gone blank.

Outside, cursed soldiers and sailors were running around. Slaine could hear the shock in their voices even if their words were barely audible, the sound traveled through the ventilation system and crawled in through the door to his office.

‘ _I have to keep up the act_ ,’ he told himself and wrapped his arms around his torso. ‘ _But where do I find such courage?_ ’

A second hit sent the deafening sound of an explosion through the ship. The impact had occurred somewhere close to the admiral’s quarters, and Slaine howled from pain as his ears felt like they began bleeding. The shockwave made the deck beneath him vibrate and a gust of polluted air was flushed into the room through the ventilation. Soon, panicked voices began to call for his attention again, and people were screaming somewhere further away.

Apparently, according to the captain’s report, Tharsis had been hit right above the main engine room, causing a fire in the hangar bay. Klancain was trying to aim for the main engine, which was a critical point on the aircraft carriers. If the engines were taken out, Tharsis would not be able to escape. The heavy armor still guarded the area of the ship, but the captain expressed great worry over the fire in the hangar bay; it was close to the missile arming and disarming platform.

“ _I need orders, my lord!_ ” the captain tried once again, this time with great frustration.

The cursed blond finally raised the radio to his lips, and said:

“Order our fleet to attack Dioscuria with torpedoes and missiles.”

His voice faltered. It was weak and clearly frightened, which probably rang poorly in the cursed captain’s ears, but the order was acknowledged.

It did not take long, however, before the news of the humans sending out their aircrafts toward the Troyard Fleet reached him, and a rain of fire hit Tharsis while the screaming sounds of jet engines polluted the air outside. Klancain was also sending out his aircrafts into the sky, and Slaine was told the Versian and UN aircrafts were uniting in the battle against the Troyard Fleet.

‘ _The humans have contacted Klancain?_ ’ Slaine wondered and felt the ship shake from impacts. The metallic body of the mighty Tharsis resonated from the attacks, making the ship feel like a great bell ringing as the sound had nowhere to escape in the ship. ‘ _Or did he contact the humans?_ ’ he then wondered.

He had no sense of time anymore. Even when he threw a glance at the clock on the wall out of habit, he did not register the time at all. It was like his brain was trying to find something familiar to distract itself from being consumed by the powerful feelings, resulting in it making him look at the clock each time he remembered he did not know what time it was or how long the battle had continued. No matter how many times he looked at it, he never understood what the hands of time were trying to tell him.

Then another report came in: Enemy submarine activity was found in the waters, but the ship responsible for hunting submarines was under attack by human aircrafts. Slaine figured UN had deliberately concentrated their fire on the light carrier that had sounded the alarms of submerged enemies, to prevent it from dealing deadly blows on the submersible ships haunting the Troyard Fleet.

Klancain was probably pulling whatever strings he could get his hands on through the radio, trying to convince Slaine’s ships to abandon their leader and unite with him instead; the assault ship was reported leaving its duty. Soon, other ships and crew would follow.

The cursed creatures had always been like that, the former blood sacrifice thought; loyal to their instincts and disloyal to rules and laws.

Moments later, another violent explosion shook the ship, but it came from below this time. A torpedo had hit the hull beneath the surface, and Slaine turned his eyes down to look at the deck between his feet. Again, he wondered how much time had passed since this battle had started; it felt like it went far quicker than he expected, or then his disorientation in time and space was creating a dreadful illusion of his time of death quickly crawling closer. He threw another senseless glance at the clock, still not comprehending what it said.

“ _Count Cruhteo’s soldiers are boarding the ship! All hands! Intercept the intruders!_ ” the captain’s voice finally sounded in the speaker system on board, clearly giving up on prying orders from the cursed count in charge of the ship and fleet.

‘ _Is he here?_ ’ the cursed blond thought, wondering how Klancain was going to save the cursed queen and princess.

With worry, he decided he had to go and see to the Versian royals. Even if he had no sense of how much time had passed, he felt a need to check on the cursed women to make sure they were all right.

Slaine took a couple of deep breaths to try easing the tightness in his chest, but the inhalations turned into shallow gasps. After a second try, his chest tightened some more instead. Giving up on the tries to calm his mind, he stood tall and put on a throat microphone and an earpiece before walking toward the door. When he touched the handle, he hesitated.

‘ _What will I encounter on the other side of this door?_ ’ he wondered. ‘ _All of my work came to this so quickly… Are my soldiers angry? Will they try to kill me?_ ’

When he finally decided to open the door, he somehow found courage from stepping out into the corridor where he was used to carrying the role of a cursed count – unlike in the admiral’s office where he was allowed to be weak. Perhaps he should have stepped out of the room earlier?, he thought, since the different areas seemed to influence him into what role to adopt.

To his surprise, the corridor was empty. Dust was floating in the small currents from the ventilations, and the smell of chemicals burning invaded his sensitive nose and made his eyes tear up. To prevent the stench from affecting him, he held his breath and began moving down the empty corridor. On other decks, he heard cursed crewmembers scream and yell in sheer panic.

As the sense of urgency claimed him, he began hurrying his steps to find Asseylum and Lemrina. If they were still locked in their room, he needed to let them out. This was becoming too dangerous for them, and nothing would end if Asseylum’s life was not spared.

When he turned around a corner to his right, he met the eyes of a cursed soldier who was armed with an automatic rifle. Slaine stopped to determine if she was a friend or foe, and her expression turned into horror as she saw him, revealing the order she had gotten. She was there to kill him; she was one of Klancain’s soldiers.

Without a word, she turned the nozzle toward him, ready to shoot while fear and confusion waded in her eyes. She was clearly disoriented of why this was happening and was merely following orders, but Slaine’s instincts went into high alert and the cursed count dashed toward her to neutralize her. When she pulled the trigger, Slaine mostly managed to avoid the burst of bullets aimed at him, but, as he was almost at an arm’s length from her, he was hit in the side of his stomach in point blank range. Luckily, it was a conventional bullet; had it been silver, the cursed count would have felt the horrifically painful burns begin scorching his flesh.

Without hesitation, the cursed count grabbed the hot gun and pulled it from her hands to throw it down the corridor. The cursed soldier released a frightened yelp and was about to take a step back, but Slaine grabbed the strap of her helmet beneath her chin and aimed a kick against her chest. The cursed soldier was about to say something, or perhaps even scream, but she was brutally beheaded from the force of her former leader’s kick. Slaine tossed the helmet aside and continued hurrying down the passageways, letting her head roll out of the helmet without paying her corpse any heed.

Would he fight like this once he met Inaho, the cursed blond wondered when he met a squad of enemy soldiers at the bottom of a flight of stairs. They were fighting a couple of Slaine’s sailors who had been cornered. His men seemed hesitant of fighting the others who had been comrades a couple of hours ago, and seemed keener to surrender than fight them; two already held their hands up in the air.

Slaine had no time for giving orders or worrying about the soldiers and sailors. He had to incapacitate the enemy and hurry toward the cursed queen’s and princess’s chamber to see they were all right; he attacked the entire squad of five soldiers and was shot in a shoulder and the chest in the process.

Being a third generation vampire gave him the swiftness and strength he needed to fight the younger generation soldiers, who were of the cannon fodder type rather than of any older generation. These were seventh generation cursed soldiers and gave the cursed blond a good amount of resistance, but Slaine quickly incapacitated them and painted the deck and bulkheads with their blood before continuing deeper inside the ship.

After fighting two cursed knights and several seventh and eighth generation vampires, he finally – covered in blood – managed to get all the way to the cabin he was looking for. He arrived just in time to see two burgundy dressed cursed men and three women stepping out of the room.

Slaine stopped when they all turned their attention to him. It was impossible for Slaine to fight two – or even possibly three – third generation cursed creatures.

“Slaine!” Lemrina exclaimed the moment she saw him, and Klancain and Mazuurek were quick to step in between him and the cursed royals.

The cursed blond wondered how dreadful he looked after fighting cursed creatures on his way to the chamber of the royal women. He was soaked in the blood of his opponents; it dripped from the tips of his coat tails and glued his now rusty-colored hair to his face. Some of it had already dried, making his clothes and hair stiff and sticky at the same time.

The harshest glare he got was from the cursed princess. Asseylum’s eyes flared with fury, making her look like the powerful creature she was. She had clearly decided to perceive Slaine as her enemy, but, even then, she had room to express lament; she looked at him as if she was greatly disappointed in him as well as grieved the Slaine she had lost – despite him still being there, shallowly hiding beneath the mask of a cursed creature.

Briefly, Slaine got eye contact with Eddelrittuo. The little handmaiden looked at him with heartache flowing down her cheeks. She was the only one except for Harklight who knew what was going on and why, and she seemed to do her utmost to hold back a desperate voice – probably to stop herself from ending these hostilities between Slaine and the others.

“Take the highnesses to the helicopter,” Count Mazuurek said with a healthy glow on his cheeks; he seemed to have gotten fresh blood of high quality and was now strong enough to fight the cursed blond. “I shall hold him back.”

“Godspeed, Count Mazuurek,” Asseylum whispered to him and threw a last glance toward Slaine, before she hurried with the others down the corridor to escape the maddened cursed count.

When they were left alone, Slaine did not hesitate; he went in for an attack immediately. If he did not continue fighting, his mask risked falling off and the outcome of this battle could change. To protect his intentions of both dying and hopefully take the hate of the world along with him, he pushed through the pain in his wounds and tried to aim for Count Mazuurek’s throat. Skillfully, the other cursed creature avoided his attack by deflecting it away from him, and made an immediate attempt to take a hold of Slaine instead. The cursed blond bounced back to avoid being grabbed, and an intense back-and-forth battle begun in the narrow passageway.

†††

The battle had raged on for nearly two hours now. UN had managed to contact the cursed count called Klancain Cruhteo, and was now assisting the cursed count’s aircrafts in battling Slaine’s fleet. Three of the five ships had already surrendered or were retreating, abandoning the mighty Tharsis that stood in a cloud of black smoke. The Chinese submarines had been ordered to deploy both torpedoes and missiles toward the burning ship, and had just recently acknowledged the attack submarines rushing into torpedo range while a conventional ballistic missile was on its way, fired from behind the horizon. In case the conventional missile would fail, China had warned they would use a MIRV of similar caliber as Slaine’s nuclear missiles.

‘ _I have to get to him before that_ ,’ the brunet thought and made sure he had everything he needed in his vest, utility belt and pockets.

Since the Chinese submarines had become aggressive, Inaho was ordered to get up onto flight deck where a helicopter was about to begin warming up its engine. Once Tharsis was reported being incapacitated, Inaho would be flown over to it and begin his mission – just like previously. He was glad he was back in routines he was used to, but would have it a little harder without Rayet’s support. This time, he was properly armed with a spare firearm and enough silver bullets to get past most of his obstacles – he hoped.

When wandering down the corridor, he met Inko sitting on the bottom step of a flight of stairs with tears running down her cheeks and sweat pearling down her body; it had soaked the t-shirt she wore after a shift of hard work, and her hands gripped the dog tag engraved with her identification data.

It looked like she was praying and the brunet wondered at first if he should leave her alone and let her finish whatever prayers she was wordlessly thinking, but decided perhaps he should attempt once more to say goodbye to her in case the situation on board Tharsis would get out of hand.

When Inaho stopped up in front of her, she looked up at him with surprise before her expression morphed into sorrow.

“Am I interrupting something?” he asked, and his friend blinked as she understood he was speaking to her.

“N-no,” she answered and hurriedly dried her tears away. “You’re getting out there?”

“Yeah,” the brunet answered bluntly. “I was ordered to get ready. The helicopter is probably warming up already.”

Inko stood up and lowered her head to hide her crying face, and mumbled:

“This might be the last day of the war. I was praying for this hell to end already.” Her voice was careful and quiet, and she sniffled before continuing: “Be sure to come back, Inaho Kaizuka.” She looked up at him with the look of a soldier, and stepped aside to let him up the stairs. “And come back with the cursed count responsible for this worry of mine.”

Inaho nodded.

“Don’t worry,” he assured her. “I will capture him.”

The look in her eyes and the tone of her voice made Inaho realize Inko had come to terms with her emotions toward him, and he felt a small feeling of gratefulness toward her. Finally, he was completely free; he was allowed to say goodbye.

Finally, he could focus entirely on Slaine.

With a last glance at her, he nodded to express his gratitude and support, and she smiled with gritted teeth. As he ascended the stairs to head for the helicopter, Inko yelled after him:

“Give him hell! As Nina said: We’ll root for you loud enough you’ll feel it all the way to the other ship.”

“Thanks,” the brunet answered without turning around, and continued ascending deck after deck until he reached the cold flight deck where the acrid smell of war lay heavily in the air.

The beating of the rotor blades polluted the air while the scream of an aircraft landing on deck to refuel and refill its missile bays attacked his ears. After the aircraft had landed properly and was shown to the other side of the flight deck, Inaho hurried over to the helicopter where the air had warmed up by the engine’s exhaust and greeted the pilots with a salute. It was too noisy to speak without a headset, and he was given headphones that somewhat filtered out the loud noise of the engine.

“Ensign Inaho Kaizuka, ready for the mission,” the brunet said into the microphone after he had stepped inside the helicopter and closed the door.

While the pilots acknowledged him and reported they were ready for takeoff within a couple of minutes, Inaho strapped himself to the belts on his seat in the back of the craft.

“ _We will do this the same way as we have before_ ,” the pilot said, who had flown Inaho and Rayet on their previous missions. “ _When the ballistic missile is close by, we will lift. If it hits the enemy ship, we will take you there_.”

Inaho nodded and felt the calmness before the storm.

‘ _I’m coming, Slaine_.’


	42. Inherit the World – The Previously Told Story 2

“ _My lord_ ,” a familiar voice said in the earpiece out of nowhere while he found himself in the middle of a battle of strength; Mazuurek was pinned against the wall, holding the blood-drenched cursed blond away from him by holding the other’s arms at bay, while Slaine struggled to clutch his hands around the other’s throat. “ _Count Cruhteo’s helicopter has been damaged, and the count and the royal highnesses have been forced under deck again. They are headed toward the hangar, probably to catch a MOB_.”

‘ _What?!_ ’ Slaine thought shocked as he recognized the voice as Harklight’s. ‘ _You’re not supposed to be on board!_ ’

Did the blood sacrifice not leave earlier? Slaine had been so sure the human young man had decided to leave his side forever after the harsh things the cursed creature had barked to him, and it had been a bittersweet relief to not worry about his life in this last moment of battle. Again, the bittersweet relief washed over him, because now he was not alone.

The shock must have shown on Slaine’s expression as his opponent seemed to jump the chance of using the distraction to his advantage. With a powerful shove with a boot against Slaine’s torso, the cursed blond was pushed away from the count and was pinned against the opposite wall in the narrow corridor – the impact of the shove being painful; the energy of the force reverberated through his spine. Mazuurek got the perfect position of bracing his body against the wall behind him while pushing Slaine against the other with the boot against the cursed blond’s stomach, adding pressure until Slaine gasped from pain.

“You could have changed it all,” Mazuurek said quietly and with obvious anger. “Vers believed in your well-played performance, but it turns out you are nothing but a power-hungry wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

Slaine scoffed and groaned as Mazuurek added more pressure onto his stomach. His lower ribs began creaking inside him.

“None of you … cursed nobles are capable of changing a starving nation…” the cursed blond hissed and tried to push the other count’s boot away to free himself. “You cling to ideological artifacts from the past … and pretend it is good enough while the people … are starving. AGHH!” Mazuurek had added more force against Slaine’s stomach, and a rib felt like it snapped inwards and punctured something inside the cursed blond. “I am … the only one who can change that.”

‘ _It hurts!_ ’ he thought while the pain ached and stung so horribly he felt faint. Never had he felt this kind of pain before, where he was pinned against the wall by his stomach, with ribs bending and breaking.

“What about Princess Asseylum?! Why did you keep her locked away for all these years?!” Mazuurek exclaimed angrily, but Slaine pushed a grin onto his lips and stared at the other, saying:

“She is nothing but … an artifact from my past. If you cursed nobles are allowed … to keep artifacts that you cling to, then I as well am-“ He was brutally interrupted by Mazuurek releasing his stomach to stomp against him, knocking the wind out of the cursed blond and made him vomit blood as some of his ribs broke, trickling out from between his lips.

“How dare you?!” the cursed count yelled. “She took care of you when you were a child, and this is how you repay her?! You do not deserve to live! You have done enough crimes!”

The cursed count’s words hurt just as much as the broken ribs in his smashed stomach. Pitifully, he leaned forward while holding Mazuurek by the leg that pinned him against the wall, and he grunted to clear his throat from the blood that kept on pushing up through his throat.

‘ _This is bad…_ ’ Slaine thought and the feeling of faint became more palpable. ‘ _I can’t be killed by a cursed count. Inaho, where the hell are you?!_ ’

Despite the pain and damage that had already been dealt to him, he had to survive until either Inaho arrived or the ship went under the waves. His death had to be symbolical; the humans had to kill him to settle the hostilities between the cursed and the humans. That way, it would become a tool for Asseylum to use in her work of uniting humans and the cursed.

Now, however, he found himself in a pinch. The more he struggled against Mazuurek, the harder he would be pinned against the wall. He was sure the cursed count would not stop until he smashed Slaine’s torso entirely.

“L-let … go…” Slaine gasped with a strained breath, before allowing his body to collapse and hang limply in Mazuurek’s trap.

A couple of seconds passed with the cursed count studying him, and then he was finally let go and collapsed onto the floor. It was a relief to be released, but the broken body moving made a new kind of pain overwhelm him.

“Ughh…”

A ruthless hand gripped his hair and pulled his head up from the floor, forcing him to face the cursed count. He met the troubled and merciless eyes of the other count, who stared at him with pity and hesitation mixed with the sense of duty. Mazuurek would off him if the cursed count got to choose.

“I cannot let you live,” the other said and seemed to feel sorry for the cursed blond gasping from pain. “You are too dangerous for Her Highnesses. I am sorry … Count Slaine Saazbaum Troyard.”

Without warning, as he watched Mazuurek raise his hand to cut through Slaine’s throat, the cursed blond reached out his hands to grab the other’s wrist to the hand holding his hair, and used every little ounce of strength he had left to throw his body around while holding the count’s wrist in a firm grip. A loud snapping sound – much like a gunshot – followed, and his hair was released. When he hurried up from the floor on staggering legs, Mazuurek held an arm that was bent in an unnatural way and something pushed toward Mazuurek’s coat sleeve – probably a bone.

A second later, the cursed count with an open fracture released a shocked gasp and looked up at Slaine with wide eyes. Without hesitation, the cursed blond grabbed him by his coat and pushed him down against the floor, leaning in toward the crook of the cursed count’s neck while Mazuurek began struggling by pulling at Slaine’s coat to throw him off. Slaine had managed to get a perfect grip of his neck and pushed his lips against it before biting as deeply as he could.

Cursed blood welled into his mouth while Mazuurek released an agonizing howl, and the cursed creature beneath the blond panicked and began thrashing around. To avoid being pulled off, Slaine pushed his entire weight against the other, clinging to him with all of his strength and took whatever beating he got while he consumed the vampire’s blood. Mazuurek tried to pull him away, but each time he tried Slaine’s fangs and teeth pulled at the flesh on his neck, making the cursed count slowly give up to avoid getting his throat ripped open.

Once he had gotten enough, Slaine felt horribly nauseous. Slowly, his body felt stronger while Mazuurek was growing weaker, and the cursed blond finally let him go and got up from on top of him.

“I’m sorry,” the cursed blond whispered with a trembling voice. “I can’t die in your hands.”

Mazuurek stared at him with shock, unable to answer and, just like that, Slaine decided to head for the hangar bay where Asseylum had been seen according to Harklight’s report. On his way there, the ship shook and loud explosions deafened him again. According to the sound and vibrations, these torpedoes were more destructive than the previous one, and Slaine knew they were released by enemy submarines. Even if Tharsis had a double hull – just like all the other cursed aircraft carriers – the armor would not hold for much longer if the torpedoes kept coming.

‘ _The submarines are here… A ballistic missile is on its way as well?_ ’ he wondered as he pushed through the corridors while the alarms were sounding, remembering to how Count Ravielus and Mazuurek had been defeated in the past. ‘ _Are they using the same tactic with me?_ ’

“ _The main cooling system for the starboard reactor is damaged!_ ” he heard someone yell in the speaker system, and people’s panic increased.

“ _Ship is taking in water! The pumps have been activated; they’ll hold for now, but another critical hit will overwhelm the systems!_ ” another shouted.

“ _Turn the starboard reactor off and increase the output on the portside reactor, and let the pumps run! All hands: Abandon ship!_ ” the captain ordered, and Slaine finally understood he was defeated.

Immediately, chaos broke out on board. Cursed soldiers and sailors – without orders to follow except for evacuating the ship – hurried out on deck or into the hangar bay where life rafts were to be deployed into the water. The daylight would most certainly scorch those who ventured outside without protection, but they did not seem to be fully aware of the consequences of not wearing sun protective gear. Some of those he met in the passageways were calm and seemed to know what to do; they wore protection before hurrying past their former lord with a last salute before disappearing.

‘ _They’re not only abandoning the ship_ ,’ Slaine thought and leaned up against the wall for a short moment to take a deep breath to collect strength. ‘ _They abandon me as well._ ’

The closer to the hangar he came, the louder the screams of horrified cursed creatures became. He figured it should be natural with panicked people that had gathered somewhere where they were being rescued too slowly to keep them calm, but, once he saw the hangar, a swarm of panicked cursed creatures came into view. Some dragged human captives along with them, while others were swarming around single human beings that were eaten alive. Others were jumping off from the elevator openings and landed somewhere in the sea, some were running around aimlessly. Many also cowered in corners, trying to hide from danger.

The entire spectrum of panic was played out in the hangar bay that was still burning deeper down toward the aft, and Slaine thought of it as odd why no life rafts were seen. All the lifeboats and MOB boats had been lowered as well, hopefully saving at least some of the crew.

‘ _What is going on?_ ’ he wondered and was harshly pushed aside as a small group of cursed creatures hurried past him without recognizing him, trying their luck up on the deck instead.

The ribs in the cursed blond’s torso felt like they cut something again due to the shove, and he groaned with pain and held his hand protectively over his stomach while he found support from the wall with the other.

“ _My lord_ ,” he heard Harklight say again, and Slaine hurriedly raised a hand to the earpiece to isolate the sound from the commotion around him. “ _The princess and Count Cruhteo cannot get out of the hangar bay; their path is blocked by the crowds_.”

“Harklight?!” Slaine hurriedly said into the throat microphone. “Why are you still here?!”

“ _Shall I make an announcement there are life rafts on flight deck?_ ” the human young man continued, ignoring Slaine’s question. “ _No life rafts can be found in the hangar. I have seen to that_.”

“What?! Harklight! What have you done?!” Slaine hurriedly said, and the manservant repeated his question, adding:

“ _Otherwise the princess’s life will be in danger_.”

“Do it!” Slaine hurriedly said as he understood the human would not answer his questions, and Harklight’s voice soon sounded in the speaker system, announcing there being life rafts up on flight deck.

Immediately, the crowd began moving like water breaching a dam, everyone hurrying toward the doors. Slaine hurried inside the hangar before the door he stood at would be flooded by the crowd, and barely managed to get away from the panicked soldiers and sailors that were desperate to find some kind of rescue. Slaine had no idea if what Harklight had said was true, but he had to prioritize Asseylum’s life and clear her path.

When the commotion began to calm down, Slaine’s eyes caught the glimpse of golden hair further down the hangar. However, before he had gotten the chance to move or say something, a loud bang echoed in the hangar bay and his vision darkened for a moment along with his mind.

Briefly, he lost control over his body, like his entire nervous system had gotten a short circuit, and he collapsed against the wall behind him and sunk down onto the deck. Then, slowly, he began regaining his vision and senses, and he looked up at the furious eyes of Klancain who stood further down the deck, aiming a gun at him.

“So you got past Count Mazuurek?” Count Cruhteo asked and glared at the cursed blond, who stared at him with shock.

Blood trickled down Slaine’s face, and he raised a hand to his forehead from where it seemed to pour from. His fingertips touched the edges of a small hole in his head, and he realized he had just been shot in the head by Klancain. Somehow, he was alive anyway, with only the previously momentary confusion and blackout as an effect of the bullet. The back of his head felt wet as well, and he figured the bullet had gone right through his brain, causing the blackout. His head ached a little, but otherwise he felt strangely all right.

“However, this is where it ends. You have fought well and I am grateful to you keeping Her Highness alive,” Klancain continued, less furiously than moments before.

Running steps were suddenly heard while Klancain tightened his finger around the trigger. Slaine closed his eyes, fearing the cursed count would empty the magazine into him before beheading him, and jerked from the harsh sound of several gunshots. However, the running steps came into a sudden halt and a couple of seconds passed before a loud and shrill scream echoed in the hangar. Slaine opened his eyes to see what was happening, and, as his eyes focused, he saw a dark-haired young man collapse onto the floor between him and Klancain. The cursed count standing looked down to see blood trickle out of his chest where he had been hit with three bullets.

Eddelrittuo cried in a loud scream from seeing the manservant being shot, and Slaine – unable to know what else to do but to hurry over to him – staggered up onto unsteady legs. The damage in his brain prevented him from properly moving, but, with weak steps, he finally got to the blood sacrifice gasping for breath.

“H-Harklight…!” Slaine gasped as he stared at the young man lying face down on the deck while blood pooled beneath him. He was shot in the chest. Carefully, Slaine reached out his hands to grab the warm human by his shoulders, and turned him around. Harklight wore a shocked expression on his face, and his cheeks slowly paled before Slaine’s eyes. “N-no…! What did you do that for…?” the cursed blond said with a quiver, with panic slowly growing in him. “Y-you should have … gotten out.”

Harklight turned his gaze to Slaine and tried to gasp for breath, and blood bubbled from the hole in his chest. His body shook violently and, when he tried to move, his movements were jerky and uncoordinated.

Determined steps walked up to Slaine and the wounded blood sacrifice, and a gun nozzle was pushed against the top of Slaine’s lowered head. The cursed blond did not react to it, though. All he could do was to stare at Harklight’s frightened expression, unable to say a word more.

“This ends here, Count Troyard,” Klancain’s voice said somewhere above him, and, finally, tears streamed down Slaine’s cheeks and he pulled the human young man into his embrace, crying against his dark hair.

The sound of the gun’s trigger being tightened creaked and Slaine was close to giving up this fight; Inaho was absent and he could not fight the cursed count anymore. Just as he had felt the power diminish in his body as he somehow began to accept his end, Eddelrittuo screamed again, this time with a heartbreaking voice:

“STOP THIS! ENOUGH!” Her small steps ran up to Klancain, and the gun was removed from Slaine’s head. She continued: “Please, let him be! Stop this! He’s not what you think he is!”

“Eddelrittuo,” an angelic voice said surprised, and a third being emerged somewhere close by. “What are you saying?” the cursed princess continued asking, and Slaine took a sharp breath and said without releasing Harklight:

“Don’t, Eddelrittuo…”

The handmaiden ignored him, and her desperate and shrill voice continued:

“My princess, he is not a monster like you have been made to believe! He is still kind! The Slaine you know is not gone! I do not know if his actions are right or wrong, but he is still the kind boy you knew who used to tell you ancient stories and explained human nature to you! The curse has changed him, I can’t deny that, but his love for you has always been strong!”

“Eddelrittuo…!” Slaine said frustrated, trying to stop the petite built vampire from telling the cursed princess his secrets, but the handmaiden kept ignoring him:

“He has always cared deeply for you! He even sold his future to Count Saazbaum and served your sister and did everything they wanted him to, to keep them happy so they would not target you! He kept you alive and told you stories while you lay asleep and he took care of you every day before things changed!”

“Eddelrittuo!” Slaine exclaimed from fear and looked up at her. “Please, don’t-!”

Her pitiful voice was drenched in sorrow as she continued spilling out everything she knew, ignoring Slaine’s desperate pleas a third time:

“He even spoke to you every day in case you were conscious but locked in your body while he sacrificed blood to you, sometimes falling asleep and nearly bleeding out for you! It was because of small accidents like that, that you were able to heal quickly despite the restrictions on blood!” Her voice increased in volume the longer she cried. “He has always wished for what is best for you, even if it jeopardizes his position or even his life! Always…! He was always…!” She made a pause and clutched the skirt to her black dress with her little hands before collapsing on her knees, weakly crying: “Sacrificing his all for you…! E-even now!”

She had told the cursed princess a little too much. Slaine knew his mask had fallen. He turned his attention to Harklight and met his gaze, and then buried his face against his dark hair once more. A weak hand grabbed Slaine’s bloodied uniform, and Harklight’s weak voice said:

“I couldn’t … leave you.” Slaine gripped the other’s uniform at hearing that, feeling his undead heart break apart. “I l-lo-… I love … you, Slaine… I t-told you.”

“Harklight…” Slaine whispered and continued shedding tears, wetting the young man’s hair and swallowed his human heat before it had poured out of him entirely; Harklight was already growing cold. “Why did you protect me? You know I have to die…”

“I r-released the MOBs … and rafts in here to take away y-your escape … routes, like you w-wished… This way…” the human said and made a pause to gasp deeply for breath. The hole in his chest bubbled again. “… w-we die … together…”

“You’re breaking my heart!” Slaine exclaimed as he could not contain the tremendous feeling growing in his chest. “You shouldn’t die! Not for someone like me! You should have been wiser!”

“At least I … left s-some kind of impression … on you,” the human said quietly, and Slaine raised his head to look at him again. Harklight was smiling, weakly and with eyelids hanging heavily over his eyes. “I knew-“ He gasped again and his eyes rolled back as a surge of pain coursed through him, but then continued, desperately trying to finish what he wanted to say before it was too late: “I knew you … used me all this t-time, but-“ He gasped again and leaned his head against Slaine’s shoulder, clutching the cursed blond’s suit hard enough his fingers creaked. Then, as the pain dissipated, he relaxed and said with gasps: “But for me … it was nothing but … love. I was g-glad I was … allowed to … express…”

The blood sacrifice’s eyes lost focus and his mouth dropped wide open into a silent scream, much like the dying did in their absolute last moment. Panic enveloped the blond at seeing the young man become lifeless, and he could not hold it back anymore:

“Harklight!” the cursed blond yelled and shook him as the human’s body began to grow heavy. “Don’t!” Harklight tried his utmost to look him in the eyes, and, with a last glance, his breath escaped him – rattling like corpses always did according to Slaine’s experience – and his chest sunk down as his lungs were emptied. “Harklight…?” Slaine whispered and stared at the unmoving young man. “Hark … light…?”

When the human corpse did not answer, he understood the young man who had looked out for him all this time was gone. It was surreal. Nothing but surreal. He pulled him close again; holding him against his own damaged chest and cried with a broken voice while his cheek pressed against the other’s and cradled the body, not knowing what else to do. Never had he expected the death of someone he cared about being this painful. He had seen corpses many times before, but he had never cried like this for anyone except Asseylum – not even his own biological father.

For his entire life, he had not cared about any other except Asseylum. He had to admit that he had probably been too naïve in his younger days, thinking no one else mattered except her. Recently, however, he had gotten the feeling something had changed in him; he had felt it a couple of times now, with his emotions being slightly off when thinking about Asseylum. Perhaps, he wondered, he cared for others after all? Perhaps he was crying like this because he had matured and understood what it meant for someone to die; for someone to never share their time with him again?

This made him understand he had so much to lose when dying. He had lived his life nearly alone, always pushing people away and allowing only one inside his heart. It was just like Eddelrittuo had said a while back; he was always alone because he kept everyone at distance, even if he was surrounded by people who loved him. Now, he realized that was not true anymore, and this horrible truth lay in his arms in the form of a lost loved one. Harklight had somehow managed to find a path into the cursed count’s pool of emotions, and him disappearing like this threw the pool into a storm.

‘ _To think I cared this much for you all along…_ ’ he thought while crying, wondering how many others he cared about to the same extent. ‘ _I thought I had nothing more to lose than my own life, but I was wrong…_ ’

A loud explosion came from somewhere beneath again, but Slaine was unsure if it was the shocks that reverberated through the ship that shook him or not; his world was already crumbling and shattering, making him quiver violently. Within moments, the ship began slowly listing. The second bottom of the hull had been properly breached by torpedoes, and the ship was now taking in water faster than the pumps managed to pump out.

The screams of cursed men and women out on flight deck above and inside the ship mingled in an awful chorus with the cold and twisting steel while the bleeding ship began emitting a frightening roar as it was going down.

“Slaine…” a gentle voice said and fingers brushed through his blood-soaked hair.

The voice said no more for a while and patiently waited for him to look up. Slaine knew who it was and he wished not to see her face no matter how precious he thought it was; he was not brave enough to look her in the eyes. It was something about facing another being that made him feel vulnerable, and her face was the scariest to look at in this vulnerable moment.

“Your Highness,” Count Cruhteo said somewhere with a voice that gossiped of his state of mind; he found Eddelrittuo’s sudden revelation difficult to take in, but he knew the graveness of it. “We should go. This ship is sinking.”

“Slaine,” he heard the beautiful voice say again. He was shamefully relieved her voice had turned back to the angelic tone he remembered it as even if he knew he deserved to hear it dripping with darkness when it spoke to him. “Is what Eddelrittuo said true?” Slaine buried his face deeper against the dead man’s neck and stayed silent. “Please… I need to know.”

‘ _Don’t force me to answer you!_ ’ he desperately thought and sobbed.

“Slaine,” the angelic voice said louder. “Please, look at me.” When the cursed blond refused to face her, a hand slipped beneath his chin and he knew he had lost to her now that she touched him so tenderly. Helplessly, he obeyed and looked up at her emerald green eyes, and watched her ask him with a sorrowful expression: “Why did you do all this?”

Slaine closed his eyes to hide from her before he spoke quietly:

“Do you remember when I told you about the titan called Atlas?”

A small pause later, the cursed princess whispered:

“I do. It was a misconception that he carried the world on his shoulders.”

“Yes,” Slaine whispered. “He carries the sky, and I think it is heavier than the world. That’s why, I think…” This time, he opened his eyes and looked at her again, saying: “You are strong enough to carry the world. You have always been strong, and I knew it from the beginning it was impossible for me, so…” His damaged chest felt tight, and he took a deep breath to give his voice power: “So please, take it from me. My shoulders are too weak compared to yours, as they have always been.”

A sharp gasp was heard from the beautiful princess’s lips and tears welled up in her eyes as she released his chin and took a step back. She had understood his message, which hurt her undead heart. Slowly, she shook her head as she began to understand more and more of what he had done and why – clumsily puzzling it all together with the little pieces she had at hand. She knew him well enough, even after these two years of silence and sleep.

Perhaps, he wondered, Eddelrittuo had been right again about him still being the kind Slaine he had always been. If Asseylum recognized him even now, after the curse had driven him to commit mass murder and actively propelled a world war in her name, then was he allowed to believe the handmaiden’s words? Was this why Harklight had been in love with him, as well?

‘ _But it doesn’t matter now…_ ’

“I am sure you know this…” the cursed blond continued quietly and trembling. “… but the ones who build the nations are those who will not go down in history. See to the people, my princess… They need someone who promises their voice will be heard. If not … they will speak louder, until the nation starts creaking. Do not fall back … to the archaic system you are used to; the people will reject it.”

The silence continued for a while, and Slaine lowered his eyes and stared at Harklight’s corpse, gently brushing his disheveled hair with bloodied fingertips to neaten it. Even if the young man was dead, Slaine wanted him to have his dignity. He lamented he could not bury him properly – that he had to be buried in the sea where his body would decompose inside this ship once it went down.

“Oh…” Asseylum suddenly whimpered as the weight of what he said hit her, and raised her hands to her lips to keep them shut to prevent another weak noise escaping her. She calmed herself down slightly as the cursed blond looked up at her again, and whispered: “Slaine, you really have…!”

“Your Highness!” Klancain said urgently when the ship screamed with protest again; metal was breaking, creating a hollow wail that echoed through the ship. “We need to go!”

As they stared at each other, knowing Slaine would not be allowed to survive this day, Asseylum nearly released a cry when a loud hissing sound reached their ears from the outside, like that of an engine to a large object cutting through the air. A couple of seconds later, the ship shook violently again while gushes of air and dust blew out of the ventilation and a deafening roar stabbed their ears. Slaine screamed as the pain shot through his ears and into his brain. Even his limbs ached from the horrible sound and his vision spun from the shockwaves of a missile hitting the ship. Then, the listing of the ship shifted from starboard side to the port, before swinging back to starboard again and slowly stabilizing itself.

When Slaine opened his eyes again, deaf from the explosion, he saw Klancain, Asseylum and Eddelrittuo lie on the deck with their hands over their ears. That was when he realized Lemrina was missing. His body went cold.

‘ _Where is she?!_ ’

As Klancain got up from the deck and took a hold of the cursed princess’s arm to pull her along, Slaine watched Asseylum scream with tears streaming down her cheeks and reaching a hand toward him, as if asking – begging – him to come along with her. She seemed suddenly terrified of losing him.

She was too weak to fight the cursed count, who finally grabbed her by the waist and forced her along, increasing the distance between the cursed princess and her storyteller. All Slaine could do was to stare at her in silence without hearing her scream because of the ringing in his ears, until she disappeared along with the handmaiden and cursed count.

‘ _She’s being saved_ ,’ he thought and then dropped his gaze to Harklight’s corpse lying in his arms.

He swallowed down a disgusting thickness in his throat before he raised the corpse up into his arms with pain shooting through the broken parts of his body, and turned to look toward the door he had entered the hangar through. A worry of where Lemrina was engulfed him, and he began walking back through the corridor. First, he would find his last resting place and leave Harklight there to wait for him, and then he would find the cursed queen who was still somewhere on board.

‘ _Foolish girl_ …’

†††

The missile had hit the ship, and the helicopter was already on its way. Inaho felt his heart sting as he saw the ship sway violently to the side from the explosion, blowing the superstructure into a wreck left standing on the deck while cursed soldiers and sailors were knocked over the edge, falling into the sea. Because of the weight of the superstructure changing, the ship began listing slightly.

The brunet hoped with every cell in his body the silver-crowned prince was still all right.

Just like the previous times of boarding an enemy ship like this, he had seen through binoculars how cursed creatures had been set on fire by daylight, and many had jumped off the ship into ice cold water, some perishing along with the ship as it was sinking while others fought to get away from the suction. A couple of thousands of cursed creatures were already seen floating in the sea, stiff from the cold with their bodies burning, or trying to protect themselves from the cold and sunlight inside rafts that had been thrown into the sea and were drifting away from the ship.

Now, however, the deck was nearly clean from cursed creatures after the missile’s hit, and, once the rotorcraft hovered above the deck, large splatters of blood painted the dark and crackled flight deck with death, and pieces of burning flesh decorated the gruesome site with morbidity.

“ _Be ready!_ ” the pilot said in the headphones, and Inaho nodded and unstrapped the belts. “ _You know the drill; call us when you need our assistance._ ”

Inaho acknowledged the pilot’s reminder and opened the door. The winter air attacked him immediately and the sounds of the crew on deck and in the sea reached his ears, giving him chills. When the helicopter descended, some cursed creatures tried to reach for it in desperation, and Inaho decided he had to jump.

He landed in a crowd of terrified enemies, but neither of them attacked him. They screamed and prayed, begged and moaned, ignoring the half-human and stared at the rotorcraft above, increasing their harrowed echoes of sacred and pitiful words to a forgotten lord they now managed to remember – hoping for a rescue.

Quickly, the brunet got up on his feet and began pushing through the crowd. This time, the chaos was absolute on board the ship. Everyone seemed confused and frightened after losing their leader while their own had attacked them or abandoned them in the middle of a battle. Death was present with each step he took, and the gruesome stench made him gag while he pushed on.

When he got inside the staircase of the damaged superstructure, running as fast as he could down the rickety and twisted metal to find the silver-crowned prince, a familiar face came into view and he stopped. Had the situation been different, he would have taken his time to appreciate the sight of his friend who had emerged after two years of absence.

“Inaho!” the golden-haired creature screamed with tears streaming down her face while she was pushed up the stairs by a cursed count. Eddelrittuo was trailing behind, crying as well. The creature’s eyes shone with great relief mixing with tremendous grief as they looked at him from beneath a fire blanket, like a mother who had lost her child and had found someone to aid her. “Help them! You have to save them!”

“Seylum…!” the brunet exclaimed – feeling his heart and mind grow lighter from seeing her alive and well – and let her hurry up to him on the shaking staircase.

She took a desperate hold of his uniform the moment she came up to him and met his gaze with utter panic.

“Thank goodness you are here! They have decided to die! Please, save him and my sister!” she cried. “He is not a monster and she-!”

“Slaine?” Inaho asked, and Seylum whimpered and gritted her teeth as she was interrupted by the brunet. “Where is he?”

The brunet could not give a damn about the cursed queen. All he could do was to see his own hand in front of him – the hand that would fight for and take what he wanted and needed; the silver-crowned prince.

“I saw him in the hangar just moments earlier, and my sister is somewhere on Gallery deck,” Seylum said, voice trembling and eyes washed with tears. “I cannot save them, but you can! Please! He thinks he has to die, but he is wrong! Slaine is not a monster! Save him from his misery!”

Inaho nodded, looking at her with determination.

“I know. That is why I’m here,” he said and saw the relief come back into her eyes. “Save yourself. You are not allowed to die.”

“My helicopter has been destroyed,” the cursed count behind Seylum said. “We were headed to the bridge to call for assistance from you humans.”

“The bridge is damaged from the ballistic missile,” the brunet said. “And the deck is dangerous because of the remaining cursed creatures,” he then warned her. “I am sure the helicopter I came with will assist you, but you have to fight your way there. Can you do that?”

“We will. Please, call for it,” the cursed count asked stressed, also wearing a fire blanket – just like the handmaiden, looking nervously toward the flight deck.

With fast fingers, Seylum picked up a familiar talisman hanging around her neck, and she pushed it into his hands.

“He once told me humans are superstitious, remember?” she asked him, and Inaho nodded; he could remember her telling him about it two years ago at the beginning of this war. “I think he needs this good luck charm right now. Tell Slaine I will come back for this one day. I promised I would keep it, and I will honor that promise some day!”

Inaho looked at it and felt the heaviness of the platinum in his hands. Was she this forgiving after everything Slaine had done? Why? Did she know what he had been doing all this time? If she was this desperate to save him, perhaps this would be the last puzzle piece he needed to save the silver-crowned prince from both humans and the cursed? If he asked for her assistance, would she help him?

Determined to try, he clutched his fingers tightly around it before looking up at the cursed princess, saying:

“Seylum, I need your help with saving him. Will you assist me with what I need?”

“Anything!” she cried out, and the brunet felt relieved.

†††

With a heavy gasp escaping him now and then as the cutting pain surged through his tired frame, he carried the dead young man through the passageways toward the admiral’s quarters to get to his final resting place. One last task was weighing heavily on his shoulders, and then he would be allowed to rest forever. He was grateful for not hearing the horrible noises of the ship screaming in agony as it was going down, since it made the execution of his task easier because he was not reminded about the horrors awaiting him beneath the surface.

After leaving the young man’s corpse on the leather couch, Slaine took a deep breath and turned to head back to Lemrina’s cabin in search for her. If he could not find her there, he had to keep searching.

As he found the cursed queen’s cabin empty, he took a deep breath and leaned against the bulkhead that had increased in tilt. He gathered some of his strength and continued on, looking through all the rooms on his way down the corridors.

When he looked inside the officer’s mess, he found a platinum blonde woman kneeling on the deck beneath a painting hanging on the bulkhead in front of her. It was the painting of the human Slaine – the painting where his humanity had forever been preserved. She was dragging a blue color over the painting of a blue rose, trying to finish it while being guarded by the warm smile of the human Slaine. Painting – that was all she did.

“Lemrina…” Slaine gasped and leaned against the doorpost – not hearing his own words properly. To him, the voice he spoke with resonated as unclearly as a muffle from his throat. “You have to … escape.”

The cursed woman slowly turned to look at him, and her eyes carried the determined shine he could remember from before he had been cursed. When she turned to look at him, she spoke words he could not hear.

“My hearing…” he said and hoped his words were understandable. “My body is damaged. It heals slowly. I cannot hear you.”

The cursed woman frowned and stared at him for a moment, and then tried to paint something on the canvas. Because of the blue color melted into the blue painting, she frowned and then looked up at the painting of the human Slaine. Weakly, she got up from her position on the floor and took the painting down, placing it carefully on the deck and began writing with the blue color on the wall.

“ _You look defeated_.”

Slaine frowned and looked at her, saying:

“I thought that was the idea… Please… Save yourself.”

Lemrina shook her head, answering onto the wall:

“ _No, you are afraid._ ”

“It matters not. You have to go,” Slaine said and walked over to her and took a hold of her wrist holding the paintbrush. “Please, go. I will take you to the flight deck.” When Lemrina resisted with all of her strength, the cursed blond turned around and yelled: “I will not see you die as well!”

The cursed woman slapped him over his cheek, and Slaine lost his balance and slumped against the wall. Then, she frowned and gritted her teeth, pulling her free from his grip and backed away from him to take the painting, and beautifully wrote with the blue paint:

“ _Wherever you go, I follow_.”

Her writing it onto the canvas was the expression of a decision he could not change no matter how much he tried to convince her from escaping the sinking ship. He frowned and felt tears begin flowing down his cheeks anew, and turned his face up toward the deck above and took a deep breath. How would he be able to allow her dying on board with him? It was impossible. He did not want to repeat his mistake by realizing how much he cared for someone until it was too late.

“Lemrina… You _have_ to go. You are a queen and Asseylum’s sister. Don’t argue; I’m too weak for that…”

With honest anger and sorrow morphing the cursed woman’s countenance, she began screaming at him. He could make out a muffled high-pitched noise, but he did not understand her. She screamed and screamed with anger, with her hair swaying violently and her arms gesturing to him how angry she was, but he could not hear a word in the muffled mess.

A shadow flickered in the corner of Slaine’s eye and Lemrina’s angry expression suddenly disappeared and was replaced with fear. She began hurrying up toward him, but hands grabbed him first, pulling him back by his hair until his back bumped against someone’s body. A burgundy clad arm wrapped around his waist while his head was forced to his right, and the sting of needle-like teeth burying into his flesh made him release a shocked howl. He had not felt the angry bite of a vampire for several months; it had been enough time to forget even his numbness to it from all the years of being a blood sacrifice.

The nostalgic coldness crawled over his body from the bite as his blood was sucked out of him, and Lemrina screamed with horror and ran up to him, trying to force his assaulter to release him. The unknown being behind him pushed her away, knocking her onto her knees – and that was when her own strength poured out of her, disabling her from getting up from the deck.

‘ _Who…?_ ’ he wondered. He could safely determine the one attacking him was a cursed count considering the burgundy coat, and he ransacked his hazy mind to figure out who it was. ‘ _Mazuurek?_ ’

As he was released, his cold and weakened body collapsed onto the deck. His vision spun after his already damaged body had been drained from blood, and the shadows of two beings arguing danced before his unfocused eyes. Then, as if stillness landed in the room, the shadows disappeared.

Was she saved, he wondered?

Too weak to be able to find out, he decided to crawl back to the admiral’s quarters and lie down next to the human young man’s corpse. Everything was done; he had nothing more he had to do but to disappear.

While he dragged his body down the corridor, he regretted Inaho had not shown up to finish his duty. Where was the half-cursed human?

When he got to the door into his office, he took a hold of the open door and – with a frustrated growl – pulled him up onto his feet. He was so weak his knees were about to give way beneath him, but he managed to hold onto the doorpost.

‘ _The list…_ ’ he thought while he began to move toward the couch where the corpse of his loyal servant lay. ‘ _It’s increasing…_ ’

After staggering over to the corpse, he fell onto his knees on the deck and took a hold of Harklight’s cold hand. Right after he had secured his grip, his mind spun violently and he collapsed onto the deck – still holding the corpse’s hand. Even if he could not hear the roar of the ship protesting against its own death, he could feel the creaking of metal reverberate across the deck beneath him. It was a frightening feeling, but – despite that – he also felt relieved that all his hardships were finally over.

His tasks had been made – more or less desperately – and he did not have to carry the burdens of his crimes much longer. He wondered for how long he would survive in the depths of the sea, and realized he was crawling in his skin from knowing he would be frozen cold in a dark world. He begged whatever angels or demons, gods or devils that would listen, that he would die from the pressure in the cabin once the ship went down; having his head and body pop out of existence.

As he thought this, he whimpered and closed his eyes, curled up next to the couch and began crying like a child. Even if he would have felt the need to escape – which he in all honesty did – it would be impossible to find a way to survive; his body did not function as it should and he had no escape routes left to use.

There, next to the couch, holding his dear friend’s hand like a frightened boy, he found his final resting place.

‘ _It’s over…_ ’ he thought and succumbed to the terrible fate he had orchestrated.

†††

It was difficult to hurry down the passageways when the ship had begun to list dangerously. Had the super carrier been a normal ship, it would have already fallen onto its side and begun taking in water through the open doors, filling its compartments rapidly. Due to the strategically made ballast system, the aircraft carrier was still able to stay afloat without lying down. The ballast tanks inside the hull on the bottom were still filling their function of keeping the ship somewhat upright – but even they were losing the battle against the sea gushing into the ship.

Inaho was headed toward the hangar when he heard running steps and screams further down the corridor. At first, he decided not to pay it any mind since he had much more important things to tend to than worrying about the lives of unknown vampires, but then a voice he recognized yelled:

“Enough!”

‘ _Mazuurek!_ ’ Inaho thought and stopped immediately to listen to what the cursed count and this unknown woman were arguing about.

“Let me go! No! Release me immediately!” a woman screamed with a heart-wrenching scream.

“Forgive me, Your Highness, but you are not allowed to die here! Show some grace!” Mazuurek’s voice continued.

Inaho turned toward the voices and felt his heart begin beating wildly. It hammered in his chest and his ears were assaulted by a strong pulse from the adrenaline. Was it Seylum’s sister screaming? The cursed princess had told him moments earlier her sister had decided to go down with the ship. Did she know where Slaine was?

‘ _I have little time!_ ’ he thought and took a deep breath and began hurrying down the corridor to find the cursed creatures while listening to their argument:

“I don’t give a damn about grace! Release me! Let me go back!”

“Stop this ridiculousness!”

“I love him! I cannot leave him to die alone in a place like this!”

‘ _Him?_ ’ Inaho thought and felt like his heart was suddenly stung with jealousy again. ‘ _Don’t let her go back to him!_ ’

As the two royals came into view, Inaho hurried up to them. Mazuurek seemed hurt and weak, and had trouble pulling the cursed woman along who fought against his pulls. When Inaho came into view, Mazuurek’s expression turned shocked to see his savior on board, but Inaho had no time to speak about coincidences or reunions.

“Where is he?” the brunet asked and gasped for breath.

His eyes wandered to the cursed queen whose face was covered with tears and wet strands of hair had stuck to her cheeks and temples. She stared at the brunet with confusion before she tried to fight herself free from Mazuurek’s grip again.

“Where is he?!” Inaho asked with a raised voice, feeling distressed by the listing slowly increasing.

“I saw him in the officer’s mess,” Mazuurek said quickly and restrained the cursed woman who was weakly struggling.

She pulled her hands free and slapped him over his cheek.

“I WON’T LET YOU KILL HIM!” she screamed and looked at Inaho with fury and fear mixing together into a chaotic mess. “You damn humans and cursed nobles! Let us dies in peace!”

The jealousy burned in him from hearing her desperate screams of wanting to die with the silver-crowned prince – with _his_ silver-crowned prince. He did not like her feeling so strongly for the cursed blond, and he decided to never let her see him again: With a hand gripping the gun in the holster, he raised it and shot the cursed woman in her head. A surprised and shocked expression spread over her face, and she collapsed into Mazuurek’s arms while the silver that had cut through her brain made her flesh sizzle.

“What did you-?!” the cursed count exclaimed, but Inaho put his gun away.

“She won’t die from that. Take her away from here before she regains her strength again. There’s a helicopter flying outside. If you hurry, they might see you. Her Highness has already been picked up,” he answered and began running down the corridor, which he recognized from his last time on board this ship over two years ago.

The cursed count and woman disappeared somewhere behind him, and he ran down the corridor and finally found the officer’s mess by following the map in his memory. To his dismay, the room was empty, but before he could continue his search, blue writing on the wall caught his eye:

“ _You look defeated_.”

“ _No, you are afraid._ ”

A painting lay on the floor, and – when he studied it – he realized it was a beautiful painting of Slaine. He was dressed in the grey suit of a vassal, leaning on his elbow against the armrest of an antique chair with red velvet cushions. It must have been painted when he had still been human; the tone of his skin and the shine in his eyes matched with the picture Inaho had painted in his mind from the words Seylum had spoken when telling the brunet about the boy she used to know.

The smile was breathtaking and Inaho was momentarily captivated by it. The painting was perfectly made; for a brief moment, the brunet thought he had actually found Slaine in this room as the presence of the human young man in the painting felt lifelike.

Then, as his eyes were drawn to the blue text across the bottom if it, seeing the words painted on it, he gritted his teeth. The disgusting painter had sullied the perfect image of his silver-crowned prince, and he wondered if the painter was Lemrina who he had shot in the head moments earlier.

“ _Wherever you go, I follow_ ,” it said.

Again, jealousy washed over him, much stronger now than before. The painting was a portrait of an intimate moment, which he could not acknowledge nor accept. Instead, he turned around to hurry down the corridor, abandoning the beautiful painting while deciding to yell Slaine’s name with the hopes of the cursed blond emerging from wherever he was hiding.

As no answer came, the brunet began to feel erratic.

“Slaine! Where are you?!” he yelled, but only the creaking and roar of the sinking ship answered him.

†††

His hearing was not recovering at all. In a way, he was relieved for being protected from the chilling noises of the ship, and it made him wish his hearing would stay damaged until the end. On the other hand, the silence was frightening. He could not hear screams or any other sound, and made him feel like half of the world he still lived in did not exist in the room.

The only thing that disturbed his peace was the quivers from metal twisting, bending and creaking across the ship; vibrations traveled easily across the decks and bulkheads, resonating all around him while the ship listed more and more for each moment that passed. Only muffled cries of metal and bangs from large objects falling over the deck was heard now and then when it was loud enough, but otherwise it was completely silent.

Despite the silence being somewhat comforting, the quietness was eerie and unpleasant, making him shiver from the cold sensation this stillness carried. To pass the time and distract his mind from being consumed by panicked chaos, he counted the seconds silently up to ten and began anew from one – over and over again – working his way up to ten like in a prayer.

When a violent vibration shook the ship, probably after another torpedo hitting the hull, he screamed out the seconds out of fear, increasing his distraction until he had collected his mind and calmed down again. His weak body tensed up just slightly; it was too weak to tremble, and he continued counting while clutching Harklight’s cold hand tighter, seeking whatever little comfort the corpse could give him in the silence.

As he had lain on the deck for something that felt like an eternity, he was surprised by strong hands grabbing his blood drenched uniform. While barely hearing his own voice, he screamed from horror and opened his eyes to see who had come back to attack him. When he blinked in an attempt to clear his hazy vision, the next time he opened his eyes, an orange uniform came into view. As the cursed blond focused his vision, he noticed an eyepatch and then a burgundy eye that stared at him and the scent of human sweat invaded his nose. Slaine immediately recognized this young man.

‘ _Inaho…!_ ’

The brunet said something and then lifted him up from the deck. Slaine tried pushing the other away, silently begging to be spared from whatever the brunet had planned. It gave no result, however, because of his weakened state that allowed the other to pull him up from his huddled position next to the couch.

“N-no…!” the cursed blond gasped, tightening his hand around Harklight’s lifeless fingers.

When he was being pulled away, unable to hear the other’s voice, they came to an abrupt stop as Slaine refused to let go of the dead young man lying on the couch. He could never abandon the young man. It was out of the question.

“Let go!” Slaine screamed, trying to free his weak body. “I can’t…! I have to- I can’t leave him…!”

Inaho put him down and shook him by his shoulders while saying something in a hurry, but Slaine could not hear him. As he was being pulled away again, he immediately began to struggle as much as he could. He had to stay by Harklight’s side and fulfill his duty of dying, to end the miserable hate he believed would die along with him. The brunet was not interested in honoring such a wish, and – after finally losing his temper – Inaho raised a gun toward the corpse while holding Slaine in a tight grip with the other arm, and pulled the trigger several times.

Slaine watched the body sway slightly as it was shot over and over again – faintly registering the loud bangs of a gun – and the blood began slowly seeping out of the corpse’s wounds. There was no proper blood pressure in the body, making the blood flow out of the bullet holes as if it was slowly leaking like a rusty water tank.

“W-what are you…?” Slaine tried to say, but he was pulled along by Inaho toward the door. “Don’t! Harklight…!”

When the dead young man’s body disappeared from Slaine’s view, the cursed blond whimpered and felt distressed. Something harsh infected the brunet’s way of handling the uneasy vampire, making his hands feel dangerous; they probably would have left bruises on his skin had Slaine been human. The half-cursed creature was getting frustrated and showed its true colors in the human dragging him away, and Slaine remembered the argument in the forest of Chunhuazhen.

‘ _He’s dangerously in love with me…_ ’ he thought and still tried to struggle free, but the other was far stronger than him. ‘ _What will he do?_ ’

“I-Inaho… Where are you … taking me?” he asked as he finally gave up; his body could not struggle anymore. Even if he was sure Inaho answered, he bothered not to let him speak, since he could not hear him anyway. Instead, he continued: “I can’t… T-there’s not a place … not a single corner in this world that … can b-become my shelter… I have to d-die…”

The brunet struggled bravely after rearranging his grip on the blond; with Slaine’s arm draped across his shoulders and a strong hand around the cursed blond’s waist, Slaine was taken to the staircase leading up onto flight deck, where objects were already rolling across the deck while the remaining cursed creatures were burning or holding onto whatever they found secure. Confused and frightened, he was covered with a fire blanket, stealing his vision away as well, and – before he knew it – a strong and cold wind grabbed a hold of him as he was forced up on flight deck.

†††

It was difficult to move with the deck listing terribly; it felt more like a climb than a walk. Despite that, Inaho managed to get the silver-crowned prince out on deck and call for the helicopter. While he waited, he held him securely and protectively while praying for the ship to hold for just a while longer before falling onto her side. His heart was wildly beating away in his chest, and he held Slaine’s limp body tightly to allow him to feel his warmth.

The jealousy from moments earlier in the admiral’s quarters had subsided. It had been unbelievably strong the moment he had seen Slaine weakly cling to a corpse’s hand. Inaho had quickly figured out the dead young man had been the one who had sullied his precious silver-crowned prince in the past, and vengeance had gripped a merciless hold of him the moment Slaine had begun to struggle in his arms when the brunet had tried to drag him out of the cabin.

Inaho had not been able to hold his jealousy under control; the moment he realized Slaine and the young man had shared their bodies with each other, he had wanted to damage the corpse. When Slaine had weakly screamed about not being able to leave it, Inaho had wanted to destroy the corpse all together.

Throughout the entire time, Slaine had spoken incoherently, as if he had not heard the brunet’s words of warning. Inaho had tried to convince him to come along without fighting, and begged for Slaine to stop struggling. Despite that, the cursed blond had stretched his arms toward the corpse, which had eventually drained all ounce of patience from the half-cursed creature. To put an end to Slaine’s erratic behavior, the brunet had raised his gun and shot the corpse out of sheer spite, to ridiculously punish the dead man who had touched his Slaine without the brunet’s approval.

The helicopter was coming back from Deucalion. It had most likely dropped the cursed nobles and royals off on board the UN ship before turning around, and was now heading back to save Inaho and the cursed blond hanging limply in his arms.

Slaine was horribly weak and hurt. Inaho was not sure whose blood it was he was covered in, but he had noticed the bullet wounds on his forehead and body the fresh bite mark on his neck. A vampire had probably attacked him and drained him of blood. Even if he knew Slaine would not die like this, he still felt an urgent need to soothe his pain.

Once the helicopter hovered above them, Inaho let the crew haul up the weak silver-crowned prince first with the rescue sling, before being raised up right after him. The moment he was up in the rotorcraft, he hurriedly crawled over to Slaine and pulled the fire blanket off him to see if he was all right. The cursed blond opened his eyes, weakly looking at the brunet, and then released a quiet whimper.

“Slaine,” Inaho said and took the talisman Seylum had given him from his pocket. “She wanted me to give this to you. It’ll keep you safe for now, and she will come back to retrieve it someday.” Slaine did not look at him or reacting to what he said; he stared at the talisman with tired eyes that quickly closed and teared up. “She promised to keep it, didn’t she? She will come back to get it,” the brunet then assured him.

Even if Inaho tried to soothe the other, Slaine was breaking down as though a godly punishment had been dealt to him. The brunet was confused of why Slaine was behaving so strangely, but – as the helicopter was flying back to Deucalion, leaving the mighty Tharsis to handle her frightening experience alone – he understood Slaine had lost his hearing.

‘ _He’s too weak to regenerate_ ,’ he thought and frowned.

“Slaine…” he whispered and pulled the cursed creature up into his embrace. “It’s all right. You can drink some blood. It’s tainted, but it’ll make you heal.”

Even if Slaine did not hear him, he sobbed and tried to push the brunet away – refusing his blood.

“Kill me… Kill me, Inaho… Please, kill me!” he cried and put all his remaining strength into fighting the brunet away, but Inaho took a secure hold of the back of the blond’s neck and pulled him up against his shoulder.

“I won’t,” the brunet said even if he knew the other would not hear him, and forced Slaine’s lips apart and pushed his fangs through the slightly scarred neck on his skin. “Agh…!”

Slaine’s tears dripped onto his shoulder when blood began trickling into his mouth. Unable to fight it, the cursed blond finally grabbed Inaho’s orange uniform and squeezed it with weak hands – quietly sobbing while Tharsis finally lay down on her side and succumbed to the merciless sea with the loudest roar yet, to the sound of Seylum finally announcing her existence to the world through open radio.

‘ _Finally, I got you_ ,’ the brunet thought before his mind was consumed by the cursed venom.

†††

As the world turned like it had always done, peace had finally spread across its land. Three months of hard work from both sides – the cursed and the human – had resulted in a peace treaty that allowed humans and cursed to begin restoring their nations from the devastation of the world war. All the previously conquered territories of cursed nobles had been given back to their rightful owners, and the Vers Empire – now a kingdom – was slowly rebuilding its political system into a democracy.

Many cursed rebels were still free, running from their consequences of their previous crimes and caused turmoil at times that resulted in them being either killed or captured. The cursed citizens were still yelling and chanting for salvation, but because of the nation’s leader – Asseylum Vers Allusia – was getting assistance from those cursed nobles who supported her and from the humans, the angry crowds were kept under control. Just a little more time was needed before they would understand Troyard’s and the previous queen’s promise of democracy had not been forgotten; Asseylum had promised to honor that, since it had been too late to go back to the system she had been born into anyway.

UN had turned into the peaceful organization it was supposed to be, abandoning their offensive aggressions and had readopted their policy of seeing to the rights humans had. They were busy helping severely damaged nations to rebuild the most important parts of their infrastructure, such as roads and factories, while aiding the millions of homeless people with whatever necessities they could get their hands on. Those who had things such as clothes and other supplies to share gave everything they could as donations to save their own kind in whatever way they could.

The peace treaty between Vers and the human part of the world had just recently made a trade agreement possible, where Vers traded their nearly limitless supplies in the form of timber, iron, vegetables, fruits, cattle and grains for blood from human donators. Since the cursed nation had a population that did not use up the food their nature gave them, the nation had plenty to assist the starving humans who had gotten their homes destroyed.

Within a couple of months, both Vers and the human politicians were hoping the peace had been stabilized and the trade agreement had become successful enough to allow the blood sacrifices that were bred and kept in the Versian colonies to be released and returned to their own kind. Several nations were in need of workers to rebuild what had been broken, which made the blood sacrifices wanted all across the world.

Knowledge about the curse had been made available to the humans by the cursed princess opening up the royal library to the world. Copies of Dr. Troyard’s research were spreading rapidly across the globe and scientists were eagerly taking notes of his findings. The more knowledge spread among the humans, the less fear and hatred existed among the population. Finally, they were allowed to know what kind of creatures vampires were. Because they got to know the curse’s strengths and weaknesses, characteristics and functions, the fear in the human population slowly grew weaker.

Slaine Saazbaum Troyard was dead to the world. He had sunk with his ship the humans had sunk, and the cursed princess had used that and the humans’ assistance as keys to convince her angry citizens the humans were not a threat. The entire world was still saying the cursed count’s name with hatred, but that would also dissipate as time went by; his name would be spoken with indifference soon enough – just like the names of previous deadly leaders throughout history.

He had not seen the cursed princess ever since the day they had gone their respective ways on board Deucalion. She had taken her sister with her, and the previous queen was not seen again. The cursed princess had been too busy to pay him a visit, but she was still keeping her end of the promise they had made on board Tharsis three months ago.

“I’ll wait here,” he heard his sister say from behind the wheel when the brunet stepped out of the car.

He nodded to her and pushed the car door shut before turning to walk inside an old but robust building that had survived the war in perfect condition. When he stepped inside, he was saluted by guarding soldiers.

†††

He could hear the steps. They were easy to recognize, since he had heard them plenty of times during the three months he had been confined in the dark halls that now made up his world. The small world he saw inside the unknown building were made up with stone and iron, except for the brightly lit up chamber he had been taken to just moments earlier, which was made of reinforced glass. Only a table and two chairs existed in this small space, and a chess board with pieces was set up in front of him.

The tired lungs in his body were empty and so was his exhausted mind. No proper emotions except melancholy swirled in him and had not done so for the past weeks. This small world and its torments were draining him, and his only wish was to be allowed to end it all.

When the door opened at the end of the room outside, he did not bother to look up. Neither did he react physically when a brown-haired young man entered the interrogation chamber and sat down on the chair opposite of him. Suddenly, an emotion of the desperate kind kicked up a storm inside him, and he tried to contain it the best he could.

A silence lay heavily between them with the brunet watching him – studying him – for a moment, and then took the word:

“How are you feeling?”

The cursed blond – cold from the low temperature in the prison – did not answer. Instead, he tightened the hands together that rested in his lap, staring at the edge of the table in front of him without answering as he battled the storm inside him. He was so angry and hurt, plagued by guilt and sorrow, that he could not open his lips to say a word. If he did, he would begin growling like the defeated wolf he was.

“You don’t seem too bad. Your wounds have healed properly now,” Inaho continued and reached out for a white chess piece on his side of the board; the brunet was always white, as if he was trying to give Slaine an upper hand by letting the cursed blond be the black side of the game. “You really should eat your meals, though,” the young man continued and placed his knight on the board. “The warden has been complaining,” he continued and leaned back, saying: “Your move.”

Slaine had refused to feed the curse with the blood he got recently. Not only was he hoping to fall unconscious from the immense hunger, but he was also protesting against numerous things, such as being alive, being confined in a dark and forgotten cellar in a building in an unknown area of the world, being fed with blood from animals rather than humans because of the weakening effect of animal blood, and being forced to endure the merciless cold in the cell that prevented him from feeling comfortable.

It was nothing but torture.

To still be alive like this forced him and feel the weighty guilt from his crimes – it was nearly driving him mad. The prison he had been put into was specially made for him and restricted him, prevented him from seeing anything more than three rooms and two corridors. The smallness of his world was devastating his mind further. Then the blood from pigs he got tasted terribly bitter and he felt unbearably nauseous each time he had fed the curse. Even tainted blood would have been better than the blood of a pig. Because of ethical reasons, Slaine was not allowed blood from humans who tainted their blood with drugs. Instead, the next best thing had been chosen; pig’s blood. Further, the cold air made his bones and muscles ache, and his joints were stiff. Constantly, he was forced to endure the pain that slowly drove him mad, and the only reason he had managed to stay calm despite the constant dull pain was that he found this as his punishment for all the crimes he had done as cursed count.

Before he had been taken to the prison, he had been dressed in blue cheap prison clothes and confined on board the UN ship he had been taken to while being drugged with tainted blood. He had attempted to hurt and kill himself many times in the prison by trying to claw at his neck, stab his fingers through it or attempting to smash his head against the wall to split it open. It had only resulted in serious damages, which he had just recently healed from; because of the low amount of human blood and the bad quality of animal blood, his regeneration process had taken a long time. The marks and pain from his self-harm had not faded until a couple of days ago.

After the prison had been prepared for him, he had been taken there by Inaho and soldiers, both cursed and human. At first, he had tried to fight back and push the soldiers to kill him by becoming as dangerous as his weak body could allow, but he had been cornered and defeated quickly by being drenched with ice cold water. The shock of the cold had made him collapse and huddle together to protect his body from the horrible pain, and – once the gush of water had been turned off – he had been so weak and stiff from the cold he could not fight at all. It had been humiliating beyond anything he had felt before.

Ever since then, he had been monitored and kept under surveillance to prevent him from killing himself. He had not heard a word from Asseylum and not seen anyone else but the human soldiers guarding him and the brunet who came to visit him once a week. Only the talisman he had been allowed to keep was keeping him company, but it, too, drove him mad; it punished him every day by reminding him of how he had been rejected by Asseylum.

All of this was now haunting him and agitating him. He was not supposed to feel like this or be here at all. He was supposed to be dead and buried in the sea and completely gone in both consciousness and body.

When Inaho moved in the corner of his eye, reaching for Slaine’s black chess pieces the way he always had done when the cursed blond refused to play, the weak vampire took in a slight breath of air. Somehow, he was forced by his desperate anger to say something and beg for death again after three months in torment, and asked barely audibly:

“Your curse…” Inaho stopped and looked at him. Slaine had learned to recognize small changed in his expression throughout his imprisonment, and saw that the brunet was shocked to hear Slaine say something for once. “Is it still manageable?”

Inaho pulled his hand back and leaned against the backrest of his chair. His hand rose up to his lips as he said:

“It has not changed character at all. It seems to be what it has always been.”

“Hasn’t it been long enough now?” the cursed blond then asked, and Inaho tilted his head somewhat. Slaine did not look up at him, and continued: “I deceived, I stole, I killed… I sacrificed many of my own… Please,” he begged. “Day after day … I’m forced to endure this dull pain of the cold… I’m living in a confined space … and get blood from animals that make me sick… The guilt and grief is punishing me every waken hour and it never stops… I can’t-”

“No,” a determined voice answered, and Slaine frowned and gritted his teeth. “You’re going to live.”

Slaine was finally losing his control of the anger that boiled in him each time the brunet was present, and he hissed:

“Why…?! What good will that do?” He turned his eyes up to the young man on the other side of the table, and finally snapped. Despite his weakness, he was strong enough to throw the table to the side. It slammed against the reinforced glass and the cursed blond dashed up from his seat and grabbed Inaho’s uniform, shaking him as he growled: “Why did you save me?!”

The silver-coated wolf was free once again, just momentarily. The brunet did not flinch or react, but the guards outside hurried inside the chamber. The next thing Slaine knew, painful cold stabbed his body as the expanding gas from a fire extinguisher forced him to stagger away from the brunet. He releasing Inaho’s uniform and backed all the way up to the wall behind him to escape the cold before he was showered with cold water. There, he curled up while screaming from pain. His skin felt like it was burning and crackling while his muscles began cramping painfully. Soon, his joints became stiff, and that was then the guards released the handle to the firehose that had drenched the cursed blond with icy water.

He had stopped breathing and only shivered where he curled up against the wall on the floor. When steps came closer, he did not look up at the one approaching. Suddenly, he was frightened of being showered with cold gas or water again, and keeping his head and gaze lowered would hopefully make the guards realize he had decided to be obedient.

“Neither of us wants you to die, Slaine,” Inaho’s soothing voice said, and the brunet crouched in front of the cursed blond and took a hold of Slaine’s wrists to bend his arms away from his face. “Princess Asseylum is not angry at you,” he then whispered. “And neither am I.” He leaned closer, and his warm breath tickled Slaine’s ear: “Just bear it a little while longer and hold on to that talisman.”

Slaine raised his head to look at the brunet with confusion. He could not understand his message and he wondered if it meant anything at all. Something in the brunet’s words gave him hope; the one who mattered the most – Princess Asseylum – did not bear anger toward him?

He released a pitiful whimper as the relief washed over him, and he broke down into a cry. His pride and honor was no more, which gave him the right and ability to give in to these hopeless emotions.

“Your honest anger, grief and reasoning,” the brunet continued to whisper hotly in his ear. “I like it how it all comes out when you are confronted like this. You have concealed it so well until now, but I find it a relief to see the exotic wolf you are come out like this. It shows you still have something to fight for.”

“W-what…?”

The cursed blond felt like he should pull back from the other, but he was locked between Inaho and the wall due to his stiff body aching when he tried to move.

Another whisper breathed hotly against his sensitive ear, making shivers course down the cursed blond’s body:

“It won’t be long. Just bear it a little more, and soon you’ll be happy and sad, peaceful and mad.”

A chill sprung down Slaine’s spine at the tone of Inaho’s words. The brunet was consumed by the curse; Slaine could not imagine him being like this if the brunet was completely human. A dangerous feeling enveloped the cursed blond again. All the madness Inaho had shown in Vladivostok, Chunhuazhen and on board Tharsis was all coming together, and Slaine understood what fueled the madness in the brunet.

“W-what are you-?!” he gasped and became wary of the other’s every movement.

When Inaho pulled back and stood up, casting a shadow over the shivering and confused cursed blond, he continued:

“You look like you’re crawling in your skin, Troyard. You should have known the price of evil.” He turned to leave, and let his last words linger in Slaine’s mind before disappearing: “You’re the victim of your own creation. It doesn’t suit you.”

When Inaho disappeared out through the door at the end of the room outside the interrogation chamber, Slaine was grabbed by the guards who took him back to his cell. A set of dry clothes – blue like the soaked ones he wore – were placed on the bed in his cell, but Slaine was unable to change. Instead, he curled up on the chair, shivering and aching from the cold, and took a hold of the talisman hanging around his neck. He raised it up to look at it, and then took a deep breath and squeezed his fingers tightly around it.

‘ _The curse…_ ’ he thought and dried his tears with his wet hand. ‘ _He’s not what he seems to be… He’s insane and I feel it not only in my dead heart and mind, but also in my muscles and bones when he’s close by_.’

It was strange, he thought while he shivered on the chair, how the cursed blond suddenly felt anticipating of the brunet’s return despite he somehow feared him. What had the mad half-human meant by his words? It was obvious the words carried more than he understood at the time, and the cursed blond was excruciatingly curious of what the meaning behind his words had been.

For the first time in many years, he could honestly admit he was fearfully excited. All his duties of a blood sacrifice, a vassal and a cursed count had been taken away from him. Even if his life was supposed to have come to its end months ago, he was kept alive by Asseylum and Inaho. All he could do was to patiently wait for time to pass until the brunet came to visit him again, and hopefully satisfy the tormenting curiosity Slaine felt.

‘ _Inaho… What is going on out there?_ ’ he wondered and turned to look at the dry clothes that now began to look tempting.

He would do what Inaho said; he was compelled to obey so he could see what was going to happen. Weakly, he got down from the chair and began changing from the wet clothes to the dry ones, and lay down on the bed to wait and see why he had been asked to bear the torment of the prison.

Suddenly, the pain and guilt was not as real as they had been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter left! (@____@)


	43. Final

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the last chapter, everybody!

Hands ran down his chest and stomach, starting from the top of his shoulders. They slowly – gently – pressed the warm palms against his cold body, sending shivers down his spine and made his hairs stand on end. The fingertips trailing behind lightly caressed the ashen skin, only to continue in between his thighs and tickle the velvety skin before sneaking up behind his knees and pushed them up.

Weakly, he sighed and opened his eyes, but the only thing he saw was a world of blurry colors and shadows. Someone hovered above him.

“Haaahh…!” he silently cried when a sweet sensation enveloped him, emitting from between his legs and tingled all the way to the tips of his fingertips.

With a gentle thrust, something warm slipped inside his body. It scorched him from the inside and made him open his lips to voicelessly gasp from being pleasantly filled by heat. It continued deeper, reaching as far inside him as it would go – deeper and deeper until it pushed against something awfully pleasant and made him gasp out loud. Then, warmth, much like someone’s body pushed against his buttocks and the back of his thighs, and the intrusion came to a stop. With weak fingers, he gripped the sheets beneath him from this fulfilling sensation, and his head rolled to the side.

“Ahhh…”

It was difficult to think. He had tried and tried, but soon given up. His drugged mind only comprehended the simplest of feelings and sensations and was easily overcome by them.

“Slaine…” someone whispered above him with a soft and pleasant voice, and the warmth inside him moved just slightly and made his body rock once as if something pulled out and pushed back into him, filling his insides to give him a false sense of fulfilment.

“Hahhh,” the blond gasped and tried to open his eyes again to focus. Weakly, his eyelids slipped open into a small crack.

Everything he saw was still blurry and he noticed through the even hazier vision in the corner of his eye the figure hovering above him was still there. Something reached toward him, and it soon turned his face up toward the figure. A warm and moist breath tickled his lips when a shadow lay down upon him, and his stomach and chest were kissed by someone’s heat, right before his lips were covered by soft flesh.

“Mmmh…” he moaned weakly as something warm and slick slipped inside his mouth. It searched for his tongue and gently licked it and entwined with it. Then, it caressed the roof of his mouth, slowly and seductively, almost like whoever was devouring him was teasing his moist flesh.

Just as he had managed to adjust to the strange sensation in his mouth, he was unexpectedly reminded of the heat inside him. It pulled out and pushed back in, unfolding his flesh as it plowed into him with ease. A moan escaped him again as an electrifying pleasure shot through him once again at getting stimulated the right way. He cried out despite the slick and warm object moving inside his mouth, and soon the shadow covering him disappeared.

“Haahhh! N-no…!” he cried when his insides were being assaulted by the piston beginning to move inside him with an even and gentle rhythm.

In and out…

It pushed in and out and in again.

His head rolled to the side as a violent tingle spread over his body from the sweet and intoxicating feeling this warmth forced into him as it grinded against his flesh. Even his cheeks tingled and his hips grew weaker than they already were. More, he wanted more, but it felt so strange he wanted it to stop and figure out what was going on.

With weak hands, he reached down to the side of his hips and felt two knees on either side of him. He frowned while shamelessly gasping out his pleasures, and tried to push the knees away as he began slowly realizing a person had helped themselves to bury their flesh in between his legs.

“N-no, stop…. Aaahh! Hnng…”

“Schh… Don’t do that,” someone hushed with a calm and soothing tone, and warmth enveloped the cursed blond’s wrists and moved his hands away from the knees, slightly outward and pinned them down against the mattress. “Relax. Don’t argue,” the pleasant voice continued, and soon he was forced to begin gasping and moaning from desperate pleasure as his flesh was slowly and gently ravished by this someone.

†††

The sound of water and porcelain clattering reached his ears and awoke him from sleep. A soft castle enveloped him that was warm and pleasant. He noticed he lay beneath a duvet covering him entirely from head to toe.

Slowly, he opened his eyes to look around and settled his gaze on a small chink between the fabric and mattress, from where a weak light crept inside his protecting fortress. He listened to the sound of someone washing dishes and wondered who it might be while slumbering with his naked body weak and mind hazy and slow.

Someone was moving on the other side of whatever room they were in. According to the sound, the room was large as the noise came a little further away, not close to the bed.

‘ _Where … am I?_ ’ he wondered sluggishly and closed his eyes. He felt sleepy, and without fighting it he fell asleep once more with the sound of dishes being washed slowly fading away.

†††

“N-no!” he gasped and tried to fight away whoever was touching his cold skin. He could still not see anything but a blur, but he could make out a shadowy silhouette of someone else, again hovering above him. “L-let …go…!”

“Stop,” this person said with the soothing voice. “Slaine, stop. It’ll be fine. Don’t fight m-“

His hand hit something soft and warm, slapped it harshly across someone’s skin and silenced the shadowy silhouette. The air between them calmed down for a short while and he tried to focus his sight on whoever was assaulting him. Just as he was about to distinguish a face in the blur, his wrists were ruthlessly grabbed and pinned against the mattress on either side of him. Then, someone’s thighs forced his legs up and the familiar warmth began invading his body again.

Slowly, it pushed deeper and deeper while he whimpered from fright from what was going on. It pushed through his entrance and penetrated him all the way inside, again as deep as it would go and forced his flesh open.

“Haahhhh…!” he gasped and was about to arch his back, but his body was too weak. “Aahhh… Mmmh…”

“You’re swallowing me,” he heard the soothing voice say, purring against his ear. “The drug makes you so relaxed I can push inside you without any resistance.”

“Aagh…! L-let me … go!” he gasped and moaned out loud as his body began rocking while this unknown person thrust into him, giving him precious warmth and lusty pleasure. “W-who are-?”

“Sschh…” the other hushed again and kept moving their hip, until their flesh slapped against each other’s.

His mind was consumed by desire and he gave up resisting the other, letting them give him what they wanted to give. Warmth spread through him and so did the electrifying tingles that made his hairs stand on end once more. The heat felt good and comforting, and his flesh between his legs began to tingle strangely. He wanted this someone to tough him there, too.

“Ohh…! Mmmhh!” he gasped while his body rocked to the rhythm of flesh slapping together while the piston-like object was pushing far inside him, pulling out and then pushed back in all the way – filling him once more to the brim with someone else’s flesh.

“Ahh! I’ll come inside … all right, Slaine?” this someone said after a while, but he was not capable of answering this stranger; his mind was filled with lust and desire, and he felt frustrated of not being allowed to reach the climax he so much wanted to feel. “Hnnggh!” the hazy figure groaned and pushed as deep inside him as they could, pushing forcefully against his buttocks to reach so deep he let out a surprised cry from the sweet sensation.

Something warm spread inside his cold body; he could feel it clearly as someone else’s hot passion filled his depths. Then, a sweaty body lied down on top of him and hot gasps collided against his shoulder. It felt so warm. Everything was warm. So very warm.

†††

Ba-dum.

Ba-dum.

As he woke up, his head was invaded by a sound so human he shivered from pleasure and squeezed his hands into fists, brushing soft skin with the fingertips as he did so. He lay in warmth with arms wrapped around his waist and shoulder; he was held by someone. Beneath his cheek warm skin rose and lowered with someone else’s breaths, and the sound of their beating heart became louder the more he woke up while he slowly began to register the musky smell of a human that filled his nostrils.

It was comfortable and pleasant, safe and peaceful.

Slowly, he squeezed his eyes tightly shut and then opened them. His vision was almost back; the blurry world had become clearer. In front of him, he saw a naked human chest that peacefully heaved up and down with each breath, and he could finally lift his head to look up at who was holding him so preciously. This intimate moment made him feel like a lover and, since he could not remember having a lover, he was curious to see who this stranger was. Could it be Harklight, perhaps?

The face that emerged in front of him was familiar in so many ways that the sight collided with his memories and made him halt his movements. He had stared at that face with anger, grief, hate, appeal, forgiveness and guilt. It had stared back at him with nothing but longing each time, but now it looked like it was serenely in sleep. In a way, though, the expression had not changed much even when the being was asleep; he almost looked like the same as being awake.

‘ _Inaho…_ ’ Slaine thought and felt his mind spin for a moment. He realized he had never seen this person so vulnerable before. ‘ _How did I-?_ ’

Out of nowhere, as he searched his memory to puzzle together what had happened and where he was, flashes of memories came back to him, making him feel like he should know what had happened and how he had ended up in the brunet’s arms. He did remember, but not entirely. He knew he should remember, but his mind was still too exhausted to-

“ _Drink_ ,” he remembered the sleeping Inaho command through the bars of a prison, reaching out his wrist toward the cursed blond hiding beneath the duvet to stay somewhat warm.

“ _Why? Go away_ ,” Slaine had answered him with a weak voice, not looking up at him from his desperate fortress.

“ _No. You need to be strong. It’s not tainted, so drink_ ,” the brunet had insisted without telling him much about the reason why, which aggravated the cursed blond.

“ _It doesn’t matter if I drink the blood of a pig or the blood of a swine; it tastes just as bad_ ,” Slaine had grumbled back.

As his memories became blurry after that, Slaine took a deep breath to clear his head in an attempt to force the hazy and missing memories to resurface, and then frowned from frustration as they refused to clear. Inaho took a deep breath as well as he was slightly stirred by the cursed blond’s sigh, and then fell silent again.

Giving up and hoping he would remember more next time after his confused mind had hopefully continued in the same pattern of clearing up for each day that passed, he decided to go back to sleep.

‘ _Where are we?_ ’ Slaine thought and listened to the calm heartbeats from beneath the brunet’s skin. They reverberated pleasantly through his skull. ‘ _So relaxing…_ ’

Just as he was about to slip back into sleep, sever anxiety exploded out of a hidden chamber inside his quiet chest, taking him off guard. His mind was suddenly wide awake and the confusion from this sudden attack shocked him, making him gasp to vent out the anxiety raging inside him.

He was not supposed to be alive – he remembered that now. He was supposed to be dead and buried in the deep sea for having done horrible crimes against the world. Why was he still alive? It was unforgivable he was still walking this earth which he had tarnished so severely with madness.

“Haagh…!” he gasped and felt how his body began involuntarily tremble, like he was about to blow.

Weakly, he raised his hand to grip his hair while tears began to form in his eyes. The guilt was shattering him; he could not take it. He had to die to end it, since there was no other way to spare him the pain his crimes brought with them. Only heroes died an honorable death, and he was no hero. In fact, he was a coward and he was fine with that. Death – he wanted nothing more but that to escape his crimes.

Inaho woke up and looked at the trembling cursed blond who was about to begin screaming from anxiety. Then, like he knew exactly what to do, his hands took a hold of Slaine’s shoulders, pushed his back down against the mattress and pulled down the weak vampire’s hands from his face and hair.

Slaine looked up at the brunet with plea and gasped:

“K-kill … me…!”

“No,” Inaho answered bluntly and took a hold of Slaine’s jaw to present his wrist to him. “Drink.”

When the weak cursed blond refused by trying to squirm away from the other, Inaho forced him down with his body and pushed his neck against Slaine’s needle-like teeth, puncturing his skin and pushed the teeth deep enough blood flowed into his mouth. At that moment, Slaine hazily remembered something like this had happened before not too long ago, but he had no chance to form the memory.

Within seconds, Inaho went limp from Slaine’s venom, and then the cursed blond’s mind followed; the tainted blood made his vision and mind blurry again and his body grew just as weak as before.

Minutes later, when Inaho woke up, he looked up at the cursed blond who lay in a drugged state, trying to keep his eyes open. Then, just like previously, the vampire’s legs were spread and Inaho’s heat pushed into him.

“I won’t kill you, Slaine,” he murmured and brushed Slaine’s bangs away from his face. “You have to live. Everything will be all right.”

The cursed blond could not answer at all. He was so drugged he could only gasp and moan when Inaho began moving his hips, thrusting into him once more to distract his already fuzzy mind:

“Haahhh…! Mmmh…!”

†††

It was deathly quiet when he woke up. Again, his body was drugged to the point he could barely do anything but take weak breaths and look around; his body was too heavy to move.

When he turned his head to the side by letting it fall onto the mattress beneath him, he was allowed to see where he was. The room was pitch black with no source of light. Luckily, since he was a vampire, he did not need light to see.

Even though the blurry image did not give him enough information to learn about his location, he did see he was in a bed inside a one-room wooden cabin of some kind. Heavy wooden beams held up the ceiling sturdily, and on the walls several old posters of maps and wildlife shed some information of what kind of cabin this was; it looked like a ranger’s cabin. The windows, however, were drawn shut with heavy curtains, and next to one window he saw a familiar figure.

“I...naho…” he mumbled, and the brunet looked up at him and pushed a finger to his lips to sign the cursed blond had to stay silent.

As Slaine took a closer look, he saw the brunet was holding a gun in his hand.

‘ _What is going on?_ ’ he wondered and watched Inaho peek out through a small crack in the curtains.

The little he could see of the brunet’s expression was that Inaho was troubled. Teeth gritted from tension, lips were pressed into a thin line, and eyebrows furrowed as he focused to see in the dark outside.

The confusion made the cursed blond exhausted; his mind simply could not cooperate with him no matter how much he tried to concentrate. Instead, before knowing it, he fell asleep again.

†††

“No, stop! Let go of me!”

The talisman that had hung around his neck all this time flung as he struggled.

“Calm down. Don’t argue.”

It hit his collarbone with a painful bump; platinum was heavy.

“No! Where are you … taking me?!”

Some form of strength had come back to him and Slaine was busy spending it all on fighting away the brunet who had wrapped his naked body into a large and worn bathrobe that had been newly washed. Inaho had tried to pick him up from the bed, but the cursed blond resisted him with everything he had. Despite that, his strength was like that of a toddler’s compared to the half-cursed creature who was of the fourth generation. Inaho had no problem with picking him up into his strong arms and carry him through the cabin and out through the door.

The frosty winter cold attacked the cursed blond immediately, and he shriveled up in the brunet’s embrace to hide from the cold. A slight wind pulled at the bathrobe and brushed up loose snow from the white and fluffy ground.

“Bare it for just a little while,” Inaho begged and soon stepped up to an oil barrel filled with water. A fire was crackling beneath it and it stood in the corner of a windshield consisting of two wooden walls.

“W-what are you…?” Slaine gasped and shivered in the cold while desperately trying to consume the brunet’s heat.

“A bath,” the other answered. “There is no shower here, nor warm water. There’s only snow and fire,” Inaho continued explaining and put Slaine down on a stone plate that was kept warm by glimmering coal beneath it. He held the weak vampire steady so he would not fall over. “You haven’t bathed for several days,” he then said and slowly opened Slaine’s bathrobe to strip him. Slaine clutched it to stop the other from taking away the only thing between him and the cold winter air. “The water is warm, so don’t worry.”

“I don’t want to,” Slaine protested with pleading eyes. “Just kill me already.”

“No,” Inaho answered curtly and pulled the robe off the cursed blond. “If you want to stay warm, get into the bath.”

The cold was biting him so ruthlessly he could not argue and turned toward the water. With help from the brown-haired young man, he got into the water.

“Haagh!” he cried when the scorching heat shot through him as the water enveloped the cold body.

“Stand on the wooden blocks at the bottom, or else you’ll get your feet burnt. It’ll get comfortable soon,” Inaho assured him. “I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?” the cursed blond asked and looked at the brunet’s back as he walked away with the bathrobe.

Inaho did not answer and disappeared into the cabin, and soon he came back with a gun in hand, letting his gaze scan through the area as if securing it, and then put the gun into his waistline.

“What is going on?” Slaine tried again, but Inaho did not answer his question.

Instead, he turned around and picked up a brush from a wooden crate behind the barrel and said:

“I’ll wash you. Don’t argue.” As he reached down into the water, Slaine took a hold of his wrist and threw the hand out of the barrel. Inaho, surprised by Slaine’s strength and harsh rejection, stared at him for a short moment. Slaine could swear he saw anger in the other’s usually calm expression; the curse was getting stronger. “I’ll ask you again: Don’t argue. This is for your own good,” he then said and made another attempt to brush the vampire’s skin.

Slaine’s body felt too small to contain his anger, and he barked:

“If it was for my own good, you would have killed me back on Tharsis!”

He took a hold of Inaho’s wrist again and pulled it out of the water, but, this time, the brunet threw his arms around the cursed blond’s shoulders and hugged him close. A second later, the strands of the brush began scrubbing Slaine’s back. The human warmth made the weak vampire limp, and he rested his chin on Inaho’s shoulder.

“Dying is not an option,” the half-cursed creature then murmured.

Slaine pulled his brows into a furrow and released a trembling gasp as his chest began to grow tight again.

“W-why…?” he asked as the brush kept on scrubbing his back. “This is too painful…”

Again, he got no answer. Instead, he shed tears and gave up resisting the brunet all together. He understood the other was too determined to listen to any pleas from the cursed blond – even going to the lengths of drugging him and keeping him prisoner while taking his body whenever he felt like it. Was this the punishment he got for all that he had done? Was being reduced to a mere doll his lot in life?

After a while, when Inaho had finished scrubbing the vampire’s entire torso and continued with his right arm, he said:

“You’re dead to the world. No one will bother you or find you; you’re safe now. Don’t worry about anything.”

Memories ran past his mind again. He remembered a fight and narrow corridors. Inaho was there with him, fighting as well. And they ran – ran through heavy doors that had intentionally been unlocked. Screams, frightening orders, gunshots and blood, and then harshly cold air and a helicopter.

‘ _What happened?_ ’ he thought as his mind still could not comprehend the meaning behind the fragments of the confusing memories.

“I … don’t understand,” Slaine whispered, clinging to Inaho’s shoulders.

“Everything will be all right,” the brunet whispered and suddenly hugged Slaine’s body tightly, holding him preciously. “Forget the past now. It’s gone and doesn’t matter anymore. If you’re scared, cling to me.”

With those confusing words left ringing in his ears, Slaine closed his eyes and let Inaho finish washing him. It felt good to be touched this tenderly, and it soothed him despite the horrible feeling of wanting to die filling him to the brim. Even if he still did not agree with Inaho, he had no choice for now.

‘ _I can’t stay…_ ’ he thought. ‘ _You don’t understand my pain… I have to die. For now, though, I’ll be your doll_.’

When he was finished, the brunet went back into the cabin to get the bathrobe. After helping Slaine up from the barrel and putting him down on the warm stone, he quickly wrapped the robe around him to protect him from the cold. The robe was pleasantly warm and kept the heat of Slaine’s reheated flesh isolated from the winter cold long enough to get the cursed blond inside the cabin again. There, he was placed on an animal skin lying on the floor in front of the fireplace before Inaho disappeared outside again to take a bath as well.

Slaine lay down on the soft fur and curled up and watched the crackling fire that radiated heat. There was nothing else he could do anyway because of his weak body. He had not enjoyed the warmth from flames like this for a very long time, probably not in many years. There was a great difference between the artificial heat by steam from reactors on board a ship and the flames of fire that looked like it was alive and breathing. A fire felt soothing in so many ways, he thought and closed his eyes. The smell from the wood burning tickled his nose.

Once Inaho returned, he sat down next to Slaine in front of the fireplace and brushed his fingers through the moist blond hair. Slaine looked up at him, meeting his gaze before he closed his eyes again and whispered:

“Why are you doing all this?”

“I told you already in Malaysia,” Inaho answered. “I love you.”

Slaine squeezed his hands tight as pain shot through his chest, and added:

“And are insane.”

“Perhaps.”

Slaine turned his head up to look at him again and study his expression. Inaho stared into the fire in silence, probably not noticing Slaine watching him because of his blind left eye. The brunet looked tired – worn even – and the cursed blond wondered how long they had been in this cabin.

To escape, he needed to lure the other in. He had to make Inaho believe he had given up fighting him and accepted his love and silence. Again, he had to result in dirty measures to finish his own life, and – with that decision in mind – he weakly rolled his body onto his back.

“If you do…” he whispered as Inaho turned his attention to him. “Then soothe my worries.”

The brunet stared at him for a short while and Slaine could see the curse flickering in his eyes. Lust awakened in him. It was strange to be so wanted by someone. Harklight had been the same; always hankering after the cursed blond and watching him with desire.

‘ _Harklight…_ ’

When Inaho was about to lower himself over him to selfishly please him and pamper him, tears sprung up into the cursed blond’s eyes again as a flashback made itself reminded without warning. Inaho’s body between his legs made a certain memory spark back into life, and he saw another dark-haired young man in his inner vision.

Harklight was dead. He was buried deep in the sea and waited for Slaine to join him in his grave. There was no way the cursed blond could join him now. Slaine had betrayed him.

“Memories?” the half-cursed young man asked, and Slaine hid his face in his hands. Warm lips kissed the back of his hands while the cursed creature whimpered from heartache. “Forget about your past. Your time starts here with me.”

Was he not allowed to grieve? He had done that plenty of times in the prison where he had been kept for about three months, but the guilt was eating him slowly, always making itself reminded when he least expected it. His own mind was filled with triggers.

“Shut up!” the cursed blond cried. “How can you … say something like that?! There’s no time in the cursed world!”

His hands were pulled away from his face and a seductive tongue licked away the tears from his cheeks. This was so warped. What did the brunet think when he saw Slaine in such a pathetic state? Did he enjoy him crying? Was that why he had decided to keep him here?

“No, your time is moving,” Inaho whispered and kissed his lower lip. It was a gentle peck. “Nothing stands still when alive; it’s always moving.”

“What do you know…?” Slaine asked and opened his eyes to stare at the other with contempt. “You’re still more human than any other cursed creature!”

“You have decided to die,” Inaho said. “You should decide something else, since your time won’t stop. I won’t let it.”

This angered the cursed blond even more. He tried to pulls his arms free, but he was helplessly caught in the brunet’s hands.

“You know nothing of the decisions I have been forced to make!” yelled the frustrated cursed blond, and the air seeped out of him from straining his drugged body and went limp.

“Then tell me,” Inaho whispered and leaned closer to kiss the vampire’s lips that had been heated by the bath and fire. “Tell me about your decisions.”

With gentle hands and with a gaze saturated with animalistic lust, the brown-haired young man slowly opened Slaine’s bathrobe and kissed his collarbone.

“Decisions…” Slaine mumbled to distract himself from Inaho’s fondling, but felt his mind spin. “They are like unpleasant hiccups… They … pop up from nowhere and demand your attenti- Aah!” He was brusquely interrupted by a warm and wet tongue licking his left nipple, and he flinched from the shock coursing through his loins. “Attention…” he gasped and took a deep breath. “When you stand at a c-crossroad and have to decide which w-way to go, you-” He gritted his teeth and suffocated a moan as Inaho’s teeth teased his chest. “... start to contemplate and evaluate which way … is the b-best to choose.” The brunet’s hands moved down his ribs and hips and thighs, and then moved back up again while he licked, nibbled and sucked on the cursed blond’s nipple. Slaine swallowed. “You go through all of … mmh…! … the possibilities and outcomes of all the decisions, but are s-soon drowned in … so much hypothetical data you b-become confused. Haahh!”

Inaho’s hand had moved between Slaine’s legs and the human fingers curled around his heat. A violent tingle flowed through him and reached all the way to the fingertips, where it continued tingling.

“And then?” Inaho asked as his lips kissed the cursed blond’s ashen skin toward where his hand was teasing him tenderly.

“Y-you … become overwhelmed and … d-decide what you feel is best- Ohh! … rather than what’s logical. You only know if it was r-right or … wrong once the decision has b-been honored.”

“Such is the way of passionate creatures like yourself,” Inaho whispered and breathed a hot and moist breath against Slaine’s groin.

Slaine grew anticipating. He had stopped resisting the other, but felt like his pride was trying to struggle some more. It made him feel confused as he did not know what to do or say. Would he shove him away or pull him close? Would he yell at him to stop or beg for more?

“I-Inaho…” he gasped, finding the other’s name the only word he could speak and gripped his weak fingers around the bathrobe lying open on either side of him.

“What was your hardest decision?” the brunet asked and ran his hands over the cursed blond’s loins.

“Mmh…” Slaine moaned and threw his head to the side. “D-death… My first death … was easy as I had no c-choice…” He blinked tears away from his eyes, feeling unsure if he was still crying or were so insanely anticipating of what his enemy could do to him that it made his eyes tear up. “It was like b-being born; I didn’t even notice … I had died b-before I woke up.” He was about to close his legs tighter, but Inaho’s hands pushed them slightly apart and continued caressing his loins with light fingertips. “My life simply s-slipped away … like it had not existed in the first place, but to- … hhnng! … die again- To _decide_ doing that … was the hardest…”

A tongue licked his left loin, teasing him and made his hairs stand on end.

“And what decision do you want to make now?” Inaho whispered. “Do you want to resist me or give in?”

“Hnng!” the cursed blond groaned as the very tip of a warm tongue licked his heat between his legs. The feeling was so faint it frustrated him.

“Well?” the other prompted. “I won’t do anything unless you tell me to.”

‘ _Damn him!_ ’

There was no way Inaho would stop even if Slaine asked him to. The cursed blond got the feeling the other was merely toying with him, which was not unusual of cursed creatures once they had a prey in their grasp. Compared to the games Slaine had been forced to endure by being chased and spooked by hunters during his time as a blood sacrifice, Inaho’s way of toying was far more pleasant – even if it hurt his pride.

Giving up and making the decision to hand his body over to the other filled his mind and he took a deep breath and slowly spread his legs just slightly, before whimpering:

“I g-give in…”

As he had said the mortifying words, Inaho’s mouth enveloped his heat. A shock coursed through him, making him weakly arch his back at the feeling. The brunet took him deeper and deeper for each agonizingly slow bob with his head, and Slaine threw a begging look at the other.

“S-stop … teasing!” he gasped and went completely limp as Inaho’s tongue grinded against a highly sensitive spot at the back of Slaine’s hardened tip. “Haahhh…!”

The stimulation was intense. He began fidgeting while gasping and clutched the bathrobe as hard as he could with weak hands. This was pure torture. It felt so good he wanted more and more and more. Inaho was shameless with his pleasuring. There was no hesitation in him sucking the cursed blond and he slowly took him in deeper into his throat, letting his warm flesh envelop Slaine’s meat.

Slaine had probably more experience than the other with these kinds of activities after doing desirable things with Harklight and exposed and displayed his filthy nature by pleasing the human young man with his lips, but Inaho was still strangely good at it. Doing something like this was intimate – far more intimate than being penetrated between the legs – and Inaho was more than ready to serve him like this – to expose his own filthy and perverse nature and display it openly to the blond.

“Mmmhh! Hahh! I-Inaho!”

He listened to the wet noises the other’s mouth did around Slaine’s hardened flesh, and the slippery feeling of dripping wet velvet caressing the sensitive skin gave a mindboggling pleasure he had not felt for several months.

Wet fingers surprised him as they played with the bud between his buttocks, and he took a deep breath as he felt the tips of the fingers want to push inside him. Just as he breathed in the warm air from the fireplace, Inaho pushed two fingers inside him with ease. The drug Inaho had tainted his blood with made Slaine’s flesh relaxed and adjustable, giving the brunet a chance to pleasure also himself whenever he wished.

“Aaagh! N-no…! That’s-!” Slaine gasped and writhed weakly, trying to pull away as Inaho assaulted a sensitive spot inside him that made his loins burn and scream. “S-stop!”

Desperately, he tried to push the brunet away by taking a hold of his tousled hair, but Inaho did not stop. Instead, he began rubbing that sweet spot inside the cursed blond while sucking off the needy meat he had so eagerly taken into his mouth. Without strength to stop the other from pleasuring him, Slaine’s hips began to quiver from the intensity of the sexual torture happening within him, and he cried and moaned for relief – begging Inaho to stop again and again.

The final relief failed to appear and he was left in a wanting state with tears of frustration running down his temples.

When Inaho decided he was finished with pleasing the cursed blond with fingers and mouth, he pushed the other’s flesh deep into his throat until Slaine could feel his nose bury into his public hair. Then, with a hard suck, he pulled his lips slowly up, following with his hand around the flesh and let his lips slip off the tip.

Slaine, delirious and panting from the intense pleasure, stared up at the ceiling without seeing it, but was soon covered by Inaho’s body and his legs were spread apart again and raised, to prepare his body to receive the other’s hard passion.

“So, so calm with hazy eyes but rough breathing,” Inaho said hungrily, and the cursed blond tried to focus his vision on the face hovering above him. The half-cursed being stared at him with utter fixation, making an eerie feeling fall upon the cursed blond. “Do you fear me?”

“W-what…?” Slaine gasped and furrowed his brows.

He did fear him. Inaho was insane – no doubt about it – and Slaine was mercilessly in his hands, unable to escape as long as he was kept drugged like this. There was no knowing what the other would do, since he was driven by the curse that exaggerated his wants and needs to an unearthly level no one could possibly understand. Whatever Inaho wanted to do to him, Slaine had no choice but to let it be done.

Without warning, the brunet pushed into the weak vampire, burying his hardened lust inside him all the way to the hilt. He slipped in smoothly as Slaine’s body betrayed him and made him accept the other by allowing his enemy assault him like this. He released a whimper and turned his face away from him while taking a hold of the brunet’s arms, wanting to push him away but did not dare to.

“You know you can’t fight me, so you simply accept what’s done to you,” he heard Inaho murmur while he began thrusting into the cursed blond, rocking him slowly at first, but soon grew in force and sped up his rhythm. “Did you- Haaahh! … let the other vampires do this to you as well … when they fed the curse with your blood or sought release with your body?”

“Aaagh! N-no! Stop!” Slaine cried and felt his mind spin once again from the ambivalent pleasure and pain. Inaho was suddenly jealous, probably because he knew Slaine had given his body to others before. “What are you- Oohh! … implying?!”

“How many have you done this with?” the brunet asked and gasped as he slammed his meat inside the cursed blond, making Slaine cry out from the somewhat painful surprise.

“Uugh! W-what business … do you-? AAGH!”

“Answer me!” Inaho exclaimed after slamming into him again, making Slaine feel like he was being impaled.

“L-Lemrina…!” Slaine gasped with the flow of tears increasing, feeling mortified of being helpless like this. “H-Harklight and- Aaaagh! And you!”

“No one else?”

“N-no one … else…”

Lips pushed against Slaine’s, kissing him forcefully while the thrusting kept on going. At first he did not know what to do as Inaho kissed him so deeply, licking his tongue and exploring his mouth greedily, but as the feeling of being wrongly handled grew he let his fangs grip a hold of the brown-haired assaulter’s lower lip and punctured it. Blood flowed into his mouth just briefly before Inaho pulled away quickly to prevent Slaine’s poison affecting him too much.

“Y-you told me to forget the past!” the cursed blond cried from desperate anger. “Then why the hell are you … punishing me for w-what I have done?!” He glared at Inaho’s slightly affected expression as the venom was tingling in his lip. “I never belonged to you! What r-right do you have to-?”

Inaho went completely still and silent. His burgundy eye burned with a dark flame Slaine recognized from any angry vampire, rendering him voiceless as he feared he had stepped out of line. Instead, he stared at the other without blinking while stepping down from his aggressive attack and released the arms from his hands, lying down limp and gave up entirely, appeasing the other’s anger.

Without a word more from neither of them, Inaho continued thrusting into him – this time to please his own hunger for pleasure. Slaine, gasping and whimpering from both confusing sorrow and lust, let him do as he pleased.

Once Inaho had emptied his seed into the cursed blond and got off him, he prepared the bed. The weak vampire writhed on the floor from his loins still burning as he had not gotten any release. After the bed was made, Inaho returned to pick him up from the floor and carry him to the bed and were to drug him again by forcing Slaine’s mouth open to push his wrist against his teeth.

“W-wait!” Slaine cried out and took a hold of Inaho’s wrist. “Don’t!”

‘ _I have to do what I can so I can get out of here_ ,’ he thought and stared at the brunet’s questioning face.

“P-please, lower the dose,” the pitiful cursed creature begged. “I … can’t reach the end of … your pleasure. It’s excruciating…”

“No,” Inaho said curtly and was about to force his wrist into Slaine’s mouth again when the cursed creature cried loud:

“PLEASE!” Inaho stopped again and stared at him, and Slaine took a deep breath to regain his strength from having exerted his voice. “I want to come…” he then whimpered. “I want to come. I’m at the edge; almost there to tip over and get the final outlet of sex, but I can’t when you drug me like this.”

“I cannot let you-“

“I’ll come for you!” Slaine pleaded, silencing the other. He knew how to play according to the rules of the curse and he would result to whatever measures he had to, to escape. “I’ll come for you and let you see me in my most … vulnerable state – the state the others have been allowed to see. I’ll … display it for you without hiding anything. I’ll let you give me release with your hips and I will let you see what your body truly can do to me.” Inaho was hesitating; Slaine was winning, and so he pushed silently with a pathetic whisper: “I just … can’t deal with not getting release…”

Inaho kept staring at him for a while with the cursed flickering in his eye, and Slaine kept staring at him. After a long while, without getting an answer, Slaine figured Inaho would not comply with his request and turned his face away.

‘ _I’ll never get away from here… Damn it!_ ’

Realizing this was painful. He wanted to die and disappear. There was nothing left for him in this world since he had made a good job at throwing all of that away. Now, he was forced to live with a madman, drugged and locked up. Only the heavens knew for how long we was going to live a degrading life like this with the guilt from his past gnawing at his mind every waken hour.

“You haven’t shown them the real you?” Inaho suddenly asked after a long time of silence, and Slaine dared to throw a glance at him. “They haven’t seen you for who you are when you’re nothing but a living creature?”

Slaine frowned and turned his face away again.

“They haven’t… I’m not sure who I am, though. All I know is I’m a monster,” he answered, voice thick with sorrow.

He felt Inaho’s weight lift from the mattress and the duvet was placed over the cursed blond, and the brunet’s voice continued:

“You have tried to be someone else than who you truly are for years. I think it’s time for you to figure out the real you.”

Slaine dared to lift his head and look at him, and he watched the brown-haired young man sit down in a worn armchair and stare at the fire. He looked tired.

‘ _He listened to me?_ ’ he wondered surprised and hid his head beneath the duvet. A thrill awoke in him; he could hopefully escape, but he had only one chance. ‘ _I can’t get far even if he lowers the dose of the drug; I’ll freeze in the cold_ ,’ he then thought, already trying to figure out how he should escape and end his life. It was perverse how thrilled he got from attempting to take his life in an impossible situation like this, but it was the only way he knew how to get salvation from his previous crimes. ‘ _I will end it all soon enough_.’

†††

Confusing days followed. Slaine was slowly pulled into the simple life Inaho had made for them in the cabin and was allowed to have his mind clear enough he could stay awake a couple of hours at a time to read worn books on the shelves or have sex with his captor. He was confused by the books being in Russian. Luckily, after spending so many years in the cursed nation which’s language was still mainly Russian, he had learned to read the Cyrillic script and understand the language fluently.

“What book is it?” Inaho asked after stepping inside the cabin with arms full of firewood.

“It’s called ‘The Idiot’ and is written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky,” Slaine answered and turned his attention to the book again. “He was one of the great Russian authors and is still considered a must-read in Russian literature in Vers.”

Inaho poured the firewood into a corner of the cabin and began making up a fire in the fireplace.

“What’s it about?” he wondered with the soothingly monotone voice, and Slaine mumbled:

“About a prince who returns home from an asylum abroad and is mixed up in the Russian aristocratic world and its ridiculous shortcomings.”

“He’s the idiot?” the brunet continued asking while lighting a fire, and Slaine nodded even if he knew Inaho could not see him as he had his back toward Slaine.

“He’s very kind, innocent and honest – so much that he’s considered to lack understanding and intelligence by the rest of the corrupt and proud elite of Russian nobles,” the cursed blond said quietly. “Because of this, he’s pulled into many difficult situations, but because he’s an idiot he doesn’t always perceive them as such and gets confused instead.”

A spark gave life to a fire in the fireplace, and Inaho made sure the wood caught fire properly before he walked up to the bed. Slaine turned his eyes up to look at the approaching brunet and made himself ready to be interrupted from reading the book.

“It sounds familiar,” Inaho said as he got up on the bed and sat down next to Slaine, leaning against the head post.

“You’re calling me an idiot?” Slaine asked, immediately understanding what Inaho was going for.

“Are you?” he asked, and then nodded to the book. “Since you were so quick to ask, I think you recognize a lot of yourself in the character you’re reading about.”

Slaine frowned and looked at the book again that rested in his lap.

“I’m not honest…” he said quietly. “And the prince is far kinder than me.” Then he sighed heavily. “But I guess everyone can recognize themselves in him more or less, so it’s nothing special really. Dostoyevsky wrote another book that I might recognize myself in far more than in this, and it’s called ‘Demons’. It’s about revolution.”

“Then I think you should read it someday,” the brunet said and leaned closer to brush his lips against Slaine’s.

The cursed blond did not pull away from him. Instead, he let his lips be teased by the other and felt the other’s hot breath brush against them.

Inaho had decided to keep Slaine alive and had dropped his guard somewhat after all the peaceful days they had spent together. The cursed blond felt bad as he thought about the lie he was feeding the other; Slaine had decided to die and not live by Inaho’s rules. Then again, this kind of life in the cabin was pleasant – even if he was unsure of what they were waiting for. Were they supposed to stay here forever to hide from the world? That was not possible: Slaine would drain Inaho from blood sooner or later, which made their time in this cabin limited. The brunet must have known this, since he was anything but stupid, which meant they were probably waiting for the right time to leave this place.

‘ _He’s comfortable to be around_ ,’ Slaine thought and felt the pit of his stomach tingle with pleasure as Inaho licked his lips seductively. ‘ _I’m getting attached to him… Or have I always been attached to him?_ ’

Their history was confusing in so many ways and their relationship was even worse. It had begun in Shinawara nearly three years ago and had changed its character many times. As he thought about it, he realized they had started off as ambivalent to each other, and then quickly become enemies. After that, the hostilities between them has slowly morphed into something else – an obsession was probably the right word for describing it? – and they had ended up feeling thrilled each time they saw each other.

‘ _Now, it’s changing again_ ,’ Slaine thought as he pushed his lips against Inaho’s and kissed him deeply, coaxing the other to spread his lips for him so he could push his tongue inside the brunet’s mouth. ‘ _And I like it. A little too much…_ ’

He had to remember what he was doing and why. He was not allowed to enjoy a life anymore, and that was why he was giving his body to the other so willingly. The plan to escape and end his life was what had made him want to kiss, lick, nibble and spread his legs anyway, to lure the other into lowering his guard and give Slaine an opening through which he could escape.

‘ _But it’s not wholehearted anymore…_ ’ he thought and released a pleased gasp as Inaho tickled the roof of his mouth with the tip of a warm tongue. ‘ _He’s silently changing my mind…_ ’

Worry began to flow through his mind as he realized this. If he waited for too long, his will to die would disappear and be replaced by the need to be held by the brunet.

‘ _I need to hurry and do it as soon as possible…_ ’

“Inaho…” the cursed blond whispered and felt how his loins began to heat up with lust just by speaking the name.

He needed distraction from the slowly building anxiety again.

‘ _Whenever I’m anxious I cling to him – just like with Harklight and Lemrina_ ,’ he thought and frowned, accepting Inaho’s hands onto his cold skin and shivered from the pleasant touch.

“L-let me-“ Slaine began with a whisper sultry from desire and pushed the book aside and put his hands on Inaho’s shoulders. “I want to…” Slowly while looking at the other to make sure he was allowed to, he climbed up in Inaho’s lap and straddled his hips. “Like this…” he then whispered and looked down at the brunet. “I want to do it like this.”

Inaho gaze up at him with his hands slowly pushing the bathrobe off the vampire’s pale shoulders, and Slaine let it drop down on Inaho’s thighs and let him study his naked body with a hungry look. The curse was flickering in his eye again and Slaine felt anticipating and thrilled to be viewed like that by the other, like he was the only one who could give the other sexual release.

Slaine’s hands slipped in between his legs and began unbuttoning Inaho’s pants. He found the needy meat inside the fabric and pulled it out, only to immediately rub it against the bud between his buttocks. It was scorching his cold skin and felt pleasant in his hand.

“I’m too weak to move a lot,” Slaine then whispered. “So please…”

Right after he lowered his body enough to take half of Inaho’s hardness inside him, Inaho gripped his hips and pulled him down onto his lap, burying his heat inside the cursed blond. Slaine threw his head back and nearly fell back, but Inaho took a hold of his arms and held him upright.

“Hold onto me,” the brunet whispered lustily, and Slaine did as he told him to and leaned against him.

Immediately, Inaho began to thrust his hips up against Slaine, and the cursed blond could feel the meat plow through his tight flesh and reach that certain spot he had learned to like. It was such an intense stimulation his eyes rolled back in his skull and pathetic moans and cries escaped him.

“I-Inaho…!” he gasped and felt his teeth tingle, but he had to refrain from biting the other or else he would end up drugged again. “Haahhh! R-right there!” he continued crying as his body rocked from the forceful thrusts.

He came quickly, pouring his lifeless sperm over Inaho’s torso. The brunet slowed down, but kept on pushing up into him so slowly Slaine was allowed to still enjoy it without screaming from excruciatingly painful pleasure. The cursed blond leaned limply against the brown-haired young man and let him thrust into him with a pleasant rhythm. It almost felt romantic and he was quickly overwhelmed by the intimacy they shared. Inaho was patient to let Slaine recover before he began thrusting into him again faster and harder, and they continued on like that for hours, filling their day with nothing but pleasure and release until they could not move at all.

This was his farewell to the young man who had saved and spared his life for too many times, and Slaine let Inaho indulge in him to ask for forgiveness for his future crime of disappearing from his embrace.

‘ _I’m sorry…_ ’

†††

It was early in the morning when he woke up. He looked up at the young man who was sleeping soundly, still breathing like the half-human he was. Slaine slowly tried out the strength in his body and joyfully noticed he was strong enough to move on his own. Carefully, he looked at the foot end of the bed and figured he had to sneak out of bed through the unguarded gap between Inaho and the wall.

He got out of bed on wobbly legs and had to steady his body against the wall before dressing in the bathrobe. Something sticky slithered down his inner thighs, but he paid it no mind. As quietly and slowly as he could, he sneaked toward the door while keeping a guarding eye on the sleeping brunet and, once he placed his hand on the door handle, he stopped to look at the young man for a while.

This would be the last person he saw in life. Inaho Kaizuka – the man who had chased him for two years simply because he was in love with the cursed blond.

Slaine smiled a bittersweet smile.

‘ _He’s just as insane as I am, all because of love_ ,’ he thought and felt something throb in the pit of his stomach. It made him feel sick thinking he would soon part from this world, and it was strangely hard to say farewell to the image of his sleeping enemy – probably because he was no enemy at all. ‘ _I shouldn’t begin hesitating…_ ’ he thought and tore his gaze away from the brunet as the horrible feeling began to grow in his stomach, and finally pushed down the handle of the door.

Cold air attacked his skin immediately and crept up from beneath the robe to draw its icy claws over the vampire’s skin. Slaine suffocated a surprised groan.

If he stepped out there now, he would be subjected to horrible pain. Then he would freeze up until the sun rose from behind the horizon and burn into a pile of ash in its rays. In a way, it was not much different to his fate inside the sinking Tharsis; it was agonizing as well.

Again, he hesitated. Death was not the hardest part; it was the dying he feared. How painful would this death be?

‘ _I can’t do it?_ ’ he thought and frowned. He needed to gather all of his strength to stop his eyes wandering to the sleeping brunet. ‘ _It’s because of him_ ,’ he concluded and cursed at Inaho for making him hesitate ending his life.

He closed the door for a while to figure out what he was going to do. He was determined to die; it was impossible to live a life like this, hidden and with the horrors of his past haunting him. The entire world hated him and even if he was pronounced dead to the public he would still not have anywhere to go. Asseylum had turned her back on him – as she should after everything he had done – and UN would only contain him in a small cage for all eternity, keeping him alive with only his toxic thoughts and memories as company if they found him. What kind of life would that be? It would have been easier to be dead.

‘ _I have to do it…_ ’ he thought and took a deep breath, and then opened the door once again. A tear rolled down his cheek as he looked at the trampled snow in front of the door. Inaho had made the path by going out to chop wood and prepare the baths as well as hunt for food. The lump in his stomach ached some more. ‘ _There’s no turning back, right?_ ’ he thought and hoped someone would stop him.

He was scared.

Again, he wanted to cry and let it all be over.

Determinedly, he took a step onto the cold snow with his bare feet and immediately stepped inside the small cabin again while suffocating a loud cry from pain by holding a hand over his mouth. Now that he knew how much the cold hurt, he could hopefully fight the shock of pain and step out into the threatening winter world.

With gritted teeth and drying his tears first, he stepped out into the world outside. The scorching cold beneath his feet made him want to scream and thrash around, and he nearly did. It required great self-control to keep moving forward. The cold air crept mercilessly through the robe and attacked his skin, and within a couple of seconds he could already feel the cold stiffening the joints in his feet.

As he had stepped a couple of meters away from the cabin, he decided to take away his chances of recovering and raised his wrist to his mouth and took a deep breath. Then, he pushed his fangs into it, deep enough he could feel them graze the bone, and with a whimper he pulled his flesh open.

The pain from the wound was so great he could only gasp, resulting in him shocking his lungs with cold air – subjecting his body for more pain. He collapsed onto his knees in the cold and felt his legs be attacked by the indifferent snow and ice, and his instincts told him to panic.

He stared at the blood pouring out of his wrist and then turned his attention to the other to rip it open as well. Again, tremendous pain shot through him, and he released a voiceless cry; his vocal cords were growing stiff along with the rest of his body.

It hurt. It hurt, it hurt, it hurtithurtithurtITHURT!

Panicked, he got up from the ground and began running deeper into the evergreen spruce-fir forest. He had no sense of direction; all his instincts told him was to run and he had barely any reasoning left in his mind. The pain was so great, and the fear as well, that he was drowning in the sensation and emotion.

Soon, however, he stumbled and crashed into the snow from his body stiffening and growing weak from blood loss, and began immediately thrashing around like a wild animal trying to escape a trap or snare. He tried to cry, but he had no voice anymore, and the gulps of air he took hastened the freezing of his body. Within minutes of an agonizing battle against the cold he could barely move at all, and another minute later he was frozen stiff – lying on his side, staring at the trunk of a tree.

†††

A horrible sensation struck him in his sleep, pulling him back from sleep with a brusque yank. He opened his eyes and stared at the wall in front of him, immediately realizing something important was missing. Slaine was supposed to lie there next to him, but the silver-crowned prince was gone.

“Slaine?” he asked and sat up in bed, looking around the cabin. There was no one there. “Slaine!”

Inaho hurried up and pulled his coat on, and opened the door to look outside. The sun was rising behind the horizon; the sky was strikingly orange and golden in color, and its rays were already casting shadows across the ground. He noticed a large dark spot further up ahead and hurried over to it, finding it to be blood. Someone had been here according to the flattened snow and had then continued into the forest.

Inaho followed the footsteps with a run and ran deeper into the forest to find his beloved silver-crowned prince. He cursed himself for letting his guard down; he should have known Slaine was up to something, but he had not been able to help himself as the silver-crowned prince had pleaded so beautifully for Inaho to lower the dose of the drug.

‘ _This curse_ ,’ he thought and followed the footsteps and blood. ‘ _It’s messing with my head_.’

“Slaine!” he yelled and heard his echo answer back to him.

‘ _The sun_ ,’ he thought with his heart aching horribly, fearing he would find Slaine lifeless. ‘ _Let it not have reached where he is!_ ’

Soon, his gaze landed on a burning body further up ahead, and he ran up to it and found the one he was looking for. The silver-crowned prince was ablaze while completely frozen, unable to move or protect himself from the sun and fire. Quickly, Inaho pulled his coat off and threw it over the cursed creature, patting it to put the fire out and then wrapped his beloved in it to protect him from the sun.

He took a hold of the frozen body and pulled it along, running back into the cabin. After entering, he made sure the curtains were tightly shut to prevent the sun from peaking inside, and then put on a fire in the fireplace.

“Slaine!” he said and then unwrapped the body from inside the coat. Slaine’s beautiful face and pearl-white skin was severely burnt, and his silver crown was nearly completely destroyed. “Slaine!”

Inaho did not know how severely damaged the burnt corpse was, since he knew nothing of the burnt state of a vampire’s corpse. Seylum had survived despite she had been completely burnt, so perhaps Slaine could survive as well if he was given enough blood to begin healing?

‘ _I have to try!_ ’

It was impossible to bend Slaine’s jaw open now that it was frozen, which made Inaho look around the cabin and set his eyes on a knife on the counter. He hurried to take it and slit a wound onto his arm. Blood began pouring out of him, but he did not care as long as he could restore his beloved silver-crowned prince to the beautiful creature he was supposed to be.

Blinded by the curse and love, he bled out for him, pouring as much blood into Slaine’s mouth as he possibly could.

“You can’t die yet,” he said angrily. “Why did you do this? Slaine, come back to me. She hasn’t been here yet. She hasn’t come yet! You can’t die before that, and you can’t ever leave me!”

The blood kept pouring into the cursed creature’s half-open mouth. It overflowed from between his lips, spilling out onto the floor beneath him and Inaho put a hand over his wound to stop the bleeding.

But it did not stop.

‘ _I … cut too deep…?_ ’ he thought and felt his heart grow cold and he felt lightheaded.

He had to stop the bleeding and hurried over to his pants to take the leather belt and wrap it around his bleeding arm. He pulled it painfully tight, fearing it would not help him, and released a gasp from pain as the blood flow was blocked from entering his arm. They were far away from the nearest hospital, which made him slowly realize the belt would not help him at all in the long run.

As the realization hit him, he walked back to Slaine and lay down behind him. Slowly, he began accepting his fate and wrapped his arm around the cold and burnt body, trying to at least give him the last of his heat before it was gone too.

“You have to survive,” he whispered and buried his nose against Slaine’s severed neck. “I’m sorry…”

After a while he began to feel drowsy and he shook his head to clear his mind but to no avail. His vision became unfocused and his breathing strained.

“S-Slaine…”

‘ _I’m about to go…_ ’

He took a deep breath and closed his eye for a minute, and then gasped again as he began to feel out of breath. His body got weaker and felt cold, and his mind began to spin.

‘ _I can’t … seem to stay awake…_ ’

†††

A loud gasp.

Ribs creaking.

A stiff body that broke free from invisible chains.

A scream.

He woke up with a start, looking around with shock, panic and fear slithering through him like violent snakes while not being able to move his body properly. His vision was blurry, but he could make out the licking flames in the fireplace and see blurry images of a cabin. Something heavy lay over his waist and he looked down to see what it was.

An arm.

Weakly, he turned his head to look at who it belonged to and saw brown tousled hair, an eyepatch and a closed eye. The skin of the other seemed to have an ashen paleness to it, but he could not be completely sure due to his poor sight.

He recognized this state he was in, and remembered this was how it felt to be drugged by tainted blood.

As he kept on staring at the pale face in front of him, he suddenly began to remember again. Inaho… He had kept him in this cabin and taken care of him, had sex with him and claimed him. Slaine had tried to escape and take his own life and…

‘ _Why am I back here?_ ’ he wondered hazily. ‘ _What’s with him?_ ’

“I…naho…” he gasped and tried to reach out a hand toward the other, but saw flakes of ash fall from his own skin.

His flesh had been burning and he stopped to stare at it for a while, trying to understand what had happened.

‘ _I ran away… And then was frozen by the cold…_ ’ He turned his eyes to the sleeping face of Inaho Kaizuka, and slowly began to understand what had happened. ‘ _The sun went up and…_ ’

“Ina…ho… W-wake up…” he gasped, clumsily turned around and reached his hand covered by burnt flesh toward the brunet again. He touched his hair. “What … have you done…?”

Inaho did not answer. He merely lay there, still and breathed like he was breathing with his last breaths.

“Inaho…?”

Slowly and desperately, Slaine tried to get up from the floor. He collapsed back against the wooden floor and made a new attempt, again and again until he managed to sit up. A horrible pain shot through his scorched flesh and he screamed out loud and grunted and gasped to collect his self. Then, he touched Inaho’s cheek and was met by no reaction at all.

“Wake … up!” he begged and felt something disgusting weigh him down. “In…aho…!”

When the brunet did not answer, Slaine let his hazy vision wander over the body and noticed a wound on the other’s arm and a belt that was tightly strapped around his arm. With horror, he began to realize the severity of the situation. Inaho had sacrificed blood to him, a little too much blood, and was probably dying. The weight on his shoulders and chest grew heavier, and a tremble shot through him.

“D-don’t die…! You shouldn’t … d-die!” he gasped and wanted to cry, but his tear ducts seemed to be damaged as no tears emerged. “Damn it…!”

What would he do? Inaho was not supposed to die no matter how much Slaine had seen him as an enemy. He was not an enemy anymore. He was so much more! The cursed blond had to save him, but how? He knew nothing about the art of healing and had no equipment to use. He needed blood and needles, tubes and-

‘ _The curse…_ ’ he thought as the forbidden thought emerged in his mind.

Was it too late? Was he allowed to do this? Images of the dying Harklight flickered through his mind and he released a frustrated cry. He had not saved the other by the forbidden methods despite Harklight had begged for him to turn him before his death, and Slaine had realized only after his death how much Slaine had lost with the young man dying.

He could not repeat the same mistake again. Even if he was selfish about it; not wanting to see Inaho die on him and leave him like this, perhaps the rules were allowed to be broken? After attempting to take his life several times now and failed, Slaine was unsure if he dared to do try again. It would leave him alone in this world.

“You’re everything that I have…” he whimpered and took a deep breath, stretching the tight and burnt skin to the point it forced a moan to escape him again as pain attacked his damaged body. “Why did you … do this? You should have let me go.”

There was no time to lose. He had to act quickly and made another decision based on his emotions and bit down on his lower lip to draw blood. Carefully, he leaned over Inaho’s body and hesitated for a short moment, before pushing his bleeding lip against the brunet’s and kissed him. Once the blood stopped flowing after the wound healed, Slaine bit his lip again and kissed the other once more.

When enough blood had gathered in the back of the brunet’s throat, Inaho reflexively swallowed.

‘ _I’m so sorry!_ ’ the cursed blond thought and gasped again.

“Wake up… Please, don’t die,” he whispered and finally felt tears form in his eyes as his body slowly healed from Inaho’s sacrificed blood. He began rocking back and forth while holding the brunet’s hand, and whimpered. “Don’t let it be too late. Please, God or whoever might be listening… Save him… Save him. Please, save him,” he chanted and felt his tears sting his wounded cheeks.

In the end, as Inaho gave no reaction, he released a loud howl from frightened grief. The silver-coated wolf was crying from earth-shattering sorrow as his tamer lay dying next to him. What point was there to have tamed him if he was going to be left alone like this?

A distant noise was heard from outside. It sounded like a helicopter that was flying closer, and Slaine felt panic erupt in him as he heard it hover above the cabin. It was going to land, and he gasped and tried to pull Inaho up into his lap to hold him. While the battering of the rotor blades grew louder, he managed to get Inaho’s head up into his lap and bent over him to hold him protectively.

No one was going to hurt him. He was not going to be torn away from him no matter who came to disturb their broken existence in this cabin. Perhaps he would not be able to do much, but the silver-coated wolf in him was growling and baring its teeth.

Soon, the door opened and snow whirled inside the cabin. A shadow emerged in the door wearing UV protecting gear, and Slaine looked up at this nameless being that dared to enter his and Inaho’s domain. Then, as he let his mind wander for a short moment while he stared at the vampire watching him from the door, he realized that perhaps they would help the brunet.

“H-help…” he said and hid away his sharp teeth to disarm himself. “Save him…!”

The vampire stepped further inside the cabin and closed the door, and raised its hands to the helmet to remove it. Slaine’s breath was stolen away as he watched the golden hair flutter out from beneath the helmet, and kind emerald green eyes collided with his.

With a sharp breath and with hope brewing in his chest, he whimpered:

“Save him…”

‘ _I can’t be without him!_ ’

He took yet another breath, ignoring the pain in his tight and burnt flesh, and said again, louder:

“Save him!”

‘ _He’s everything to me!_ ’

Tears began pouring down his cheeks, and he finally screamed with Inaho in his arms:

“PLEASE, SAVE HIM!”

 

 

- _fin_ -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 684 MS Word pages and 409 689 words later, this fanfic is done. One and a half hours of quietly staring at the document, trying to understand that the ride is over, and the last chapter is updated.
> 
> What a crazy ride this has been for me as an author. I wrote this as an experiment to see how well I could develop characters successively, and I dare to assume I have succeeded. (I dare you to go back to the first chapter to compare). I also wrote this to see how far I can stretch the anxiety and grimness death can imply, and also to practice on my shortcomings as an author. Lastly, I wrote this to try out how good I am at researching stuff and reproduce it in text (going as far as to visit a museum and ask the staff there about whatever I needed to know), and I got my hands on books they use in military school in the US. I have bored my partner and friends with endless talk about submarines, jet fighters and aircraft carriers, too, and battled with my submechanophobia.
> 
> As for the ending, I leave the rest to your imagination despite I know this is a risky move since people like "finished stories"; you have all the pieces you need. I wouldn't be able to write a satisfying "finished ending" that matches the story anyway, so I leave the rest to you. I'm sorry.
> 
> I hope you who have stuck with me all the way to the end have enjoyed this fic despite its shortcomings and long drama, and that you bring something along with you from all this. Thank you for your patience and kind support; it has meant so much to me you have no idea!
> 
> Maybe I'll see you in the next fic! (Not ready to drop this fandom yet!)
> 
> For a clean PDF pocket format, you can download the first cour [HERE](http://www.mediafire.com/file/j8dva3bjg919pj3/Aldnoah.9670_Cour_1_-_POCKET.pdf) and second cour [HERE](http://www.mediafire.com/file/4in7xeyaem6viaz/Aldnoah.9670_Cour_2_-_POCKET.pdf)  
> 

**Author's Note:**

> First Cour ED: [Halsey - Control](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so8V5dAli-Q)  
> Second Cour ED: [The Hiroshi Murayama Trio & Kaori Kondo - A Love Suicide](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jig_BSvn8wE)


End file.
